“I’m afraid that mourning and thoughts and prayers are now no longer enough.”
That’s what Councillor Jason Ryll had to say regarding the discovery of the remains of 215 children discovered near the site of the Kamloops Residential School.
“I believe collectively Canadians hearts are heavy at this latest revelation,” Ryll says, “and I know internationally as well, from ex-pats who desire to learn more about this. The world wants to know what governments are doing to acknowledge and address this issue, and I believe we have a responsibility to do that at the local level. We’ve been working on our own initiatives towards reconciliation and therefore I don’t want to do that without a check-in on where we currently are in our directions to staff.”
Councillor Ryll put forward three recommendations for to council’s deliberation.
“That Council direct staff to provide Council with an information report on the status on any action or plans that the City of Williams Lake is undertaking or can be advancing with respect to truth and reconciliation with our local First Nations”
Ryll says he knows they have been collectively working on this but would like an update.
“Staff be directed to contact local First Nations leaders to facilitate a council to council collective meeting to discuss how we move forward together, and what role the City of Williams Lake can play in directing our senior levels of government with clear and concise directions towards reconciliation.”
“That the Mayor write a letter to the Prime Minister supporting the call from the City of Vancouver, to provide all necessary funding and support for all residential school sites to be expertly examined under the guidance of local First Nations and Knowledge Keepers so that we can begin to identify the thousands of children that we know are unaccounted for, and attempt to bring them home to their families and their traditional territories.”