Bridgewater will still be honouring this year’s Canada Day but they are aware it needs to be celebrated differently.
Communities across the country have been canceling or altering their Canada Day plans in response to the recent discoveries of unmarked graves at former residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
Bridgewater Mayor David Mitchell explained how Bridgewater will respond, “In consultation with the multicultural society and the indigenous performers set to participate in our Canada Day event we decided to continue with our plans so they had an opportunity to share their stories,” Mitchell said.
Bridgewater will be posting a Canada Day performance video to their Facebook page the morning of July 1. It will feature musical performances from local musicians and performances from Indigenous artists.
In speaking with his constituents Mayor Mitchell says the overwhelming response he heard was that if Canada Day was still to be recognized it needed to incorporate the nation’s indigenous history.
“This isn’t a time for a boisterous celebration but rather it’s a time for reflection,” Mitchell said.
Looking further ahead Mayor Mitchell thinks this year’s Canada Day will have an impact on how all future Canada Days will be observed. “I think it has to change, in the future, it’s possible we can get back to a more positive tone but I’d be embarrassed for us as a country if this year we decided to pause then just forgot about it.”
As for Mayor Mitchell’s plans on Canada Day, he says he will be watching the Bridgewater event on Facebook and he and his wife will be making a point to take some time to educate themselves on indigenous history and reflect upon it.
