Two Richmond elementary school teachers are asking the City of Richmond to create a Truth and Reconciliation policy.
They have started a change.org petition, which they plan to present to mayor and council in December.
In their petition, Alisa Magnan and Katherine Myers claim there has been “very little action toward Truth and Reconciliation by the city of Richmond.”
Magnan and Myers explain that the 200 years of colonialism has caused “significant harm to Indigenous Peoples,” and it’s up to all Canadians “to do our part to make it better.”
The two teachers are asking for an annual event to recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and an orange flag to be raised at city hall to “honour the children whose lives were lost.”
This year, Coun. Michael Wolfe asked his fellow council members, just days before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Sept. 30, if an orange Every Child Matters flag could be raised at city hall.
He was told by the mayor he needed to give a notice of motion in a previous meeting in order to introduce the flag motion.
Instead, city council voted to have city staff review the flag policy, but no Every Child Matters flag was flown at city hall this year.
Magnan and Myers also suggest the Truth and Reconciliation policy include implementing city-specific calls to action. Further, they're asking the city to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, publicly identify historical sites that have Indigenous cultural significance, include Indigenous history on the city’s History of Richmond webpage and have a land acknowledgment on the city website and before council meetings.
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie has in the past said city council can’t do a land acknowledgment before meetings because the city is in court with several First Nations, including the Cowichan Tribes, over land in south Richmond.
The Cowichan Nation Alliance has laid claim to roughly 780 acres of publicly owned land along the south arm of the Fraser River in Richmond, near Triangle Beach.
The trial has been on-going since early 2020.
