From Vancouver Media Co-op, Photos by Murray Bush / Flux Photo
A torrential downpour couldn’t dampen the spirits of an estimated 70,000 people who joined the March for Reconciliation today.
The Sunday march wrapped up the five-day long Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC) event designed as a fact-finding process on the attempted genocide of aboriginal peoples by government-run residential schools. The event held at the PNE included opportunities for people to share their stories as well as gatherings and ceremonies for residential school survivors. The Vancouver event was the sixth across the country and following a seventh event in Edmonton next year the Commission is expected to make recommendations to Ottawa.
Starting outside the CBC, the march filled both sides of the Georgia Viaduct and took two hours to wind its way to a Concord Pacific parking lot for more speeches. The route avoided the Downtown Eastside, which has a large aboriginal population.
