I interviewed Bernard about how, at 11, he walked 130 kilometres across the Arctic tundra to escape residential school. His two best friends didn’t make it home. I stood with Barry in a field of 751 unmarked graves as he remembered being five, dragged from his mother’s arms by a priest, a police officer and an Indian agent. At eight, he was forced to help bury a child from his own school, a small body wrapped in white cloth beside a fresh grave. I sat with Ursuline as she spoke for the first time about waking up beside her cousin’s lifeless body in a dorm at Marieval. I walked the halls of Blue Quills with Alsena, who spent 11 years there and came out unable to read, known only as number 11, then number 39. These are just four of the countless survivors I’ve interviewed over my career. I carry every one of their stories. They walked through hell to tell this country the truth. Now denialism is surging. Survivors are being called liars online. And in less than a year, the testimonies of 38,000 survivors are set to be destroyed. In one week, Canada marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Wear your orange shirt, but please don’t stop there. Now is the time more than ever to stand for reconciliation. My new piece is live on Indigenous Insider. 🧡 Link below. #EveryChildMatters #TruthAndReconciliation #OrangeShirtDay #NDTR indigenousinsider.substack.c…