A group of people wearing orange shirts walk in honour of Canada National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - stock photo

Squamish, BC , CAN - September , 30, 2021: Large group of people gather in Squamish, British Columbia to honour survivors and pay respect to those who perished in Canada’s residential school system for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30th, 2021. This marks the first year in which Canada recognized the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a federal statutory holiday. It is estimated that at least 150,000 First Nation, Inuit, and Métis youth were forced to attend residential schools in Canada between the 17th century and the late 1990s with the intent of assimilate them into Canadian society. On June 11th, 2008 then Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologized the the Indigenous people of Canada for the Residential School system. Squamish is located in the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw First Nation people.