A large orange banner was blessed during a short ceremony this morning in Herb Gardner Park in front of City Hall in Williams Lake.
The Banner that reads every child matters, will be hungover Oliver Street where it will be displayed June 21st through July 26th and September 6th to 30th.
Williams Lake First Nation Chief, Willie Sellars, said the banner is what’s going to help bring together those non-First Nation and First Nations people in such a powerful way.
“We have a long road ahead of us and those 215 that were lost but are now found have reminded us just how important it is to bring back our ceremony, bring back our culture, and bring back our language. The creator has blessed us with a gorgeous Blue Bird day on a very important day for First Nations people across this country where we all come together and celebrate our culture and tradition. I couldn’t be more proud to be here, well done on behalf of the staff at Northern Shuswap Tribal Council, and thank you very much to the City of Williams Lake for stepping up and allowing this banner to go in just to remind everybody and bring more awareness about how we need to continue to work together as peoples from this region.”
Williams Lake City Councillor, Jason Ryll, said it was a fantastic way for the City and their closest First Nations neighbours to come together to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day.
“We’re happy to be a part of it, I’m joined by my fellow councillors here as well. Today is an important day for us as a matter of City Council, to fall in line with our strategic plans and our relationship building with First Nations neighbours in wanting to recognize and acknowledge and understand each other’s cultures, and move forward in a good way. We look forward to improving and working on our relationships in the future. “
The Northern Shuswap Tribal Council will appear before Williams Lake City Council tomorrow night (June 22nd) in support of their request for an in-kind donation to make the lamp posts available in the downtown core for similar orange flags to be displayed as a sign of solidarity and reconciliation.