Demonstrations were held across the country Thursday as a growing chorus of Canadians urged the federal government to release documents related to nutritional experiments done on aboriginal children decades ago.
Calling it a national day of prayer, protesters gathered at parks, held round dances and marched in cities including Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Sudbury and Winnipeg.
The protests, which varied in size, were sparked by a report published last week that said 1,300 children in northern Manitoba and at six residential schools across Canada were deprived of food and used as subjects to test the effects of minerals and vitamins in the 1940s and 1950s.
In light of the report, aboriginal leaders and demonstrators are calling on the federal government to release all its documents on residential schools to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has a mandate to document and inform the Canadian public about what happened in the schools.
Ahead of a large noon hour rally in Edmonton, organizer Jodi Stonehouse said news of the government-commissioned nutritional experiments is blight on Canada鈥檚 reputation as a peaceful nation.
鈥淲hat did happen to these children? We have a right to know what happened to our mothers, what happened to our grandfathers. They have a right to know, to be validated in their stories,鈥� Stonehouse told CTV Edmonton.
The day of action was dubbed 鈥楬onour the Apology,鈥� which references Prime Minister Stephen Harper鈥檚 2008 official apology for historic abuses suffered by children in residential schools.
Aboriginal leaders say Ottawa must follow through with the formal apology by making public documents that could contain information about similar but currently unknown abuses in residential schools.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt said the government is looking at releasing thousands of documents from archives.
Residential school survivor Cecil Nepoose told 麻豆影视 Channel the report on nutritional experiments and the response indicated a need for greater awareness of indigenous people among all levels of government.
鈥淚 believe there needs to be an awakening on our part as well because of the era and 鈥� the traumas that have been created within our people and our nations across the land,鈥� he said.
With a report from CTV Edmonton鈥檚 Bill Fortier
