by Bill Kirk
A new and different Day of Reflection and acknowledgement has just been recognized; the first, annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30 and, in the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we live, work, and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, the Métis Nation (Region 3), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta. I hope that you and your families found a way to create new dialogues and new ceremonies, leading your reflections into resonance with the spirit of Reconciliation.
Fall has arrived, there is a new City Council. A really new City Council can be safely predicted even though this missive is being written during the great Facebook Faceplant! As COVID-19 casualties continue to mount, increasing the stress on Alberta’s Health system, your ECA has moved ahead as best possible to continue services, upkeep, and plans for a seemingly elusive full re-opening. And let me be the first to say it, only 54 shopping days till Christmas!
It is my pleasure to give Barb Elms, Chair of Programs, the floor for a moment:
“We would like to thank everyone who supported the Food Truck events. The last one for this year was held at the end of September. We look forward to seeing them again in May next year.
Many of our proposed programs have had to be put on hold due to the current COVID situation. The health of our residents has to be our priority. With the almost daily changes to COVID restrictions please check the website for future programming information.” Thanks Barb.
The November Craft Fair has had to be cancelled for 2021, unfortunately. To echo Barb’s comments, the webpage is the place to get updated information. Please use it and give us the feedback we need to keep it as a premiere resource for the residents of Edgemont.
Remembrance Day, the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour, is again in our hearts and our minds. Armistice Day, now Remembrance Day, commemorates those Canadians who answered the call of the Commonwealth in WW1, and Canada’s call in WW2 and Korea. Sadly, conflicts before and after the Great War have often rent the social and family fabric of Canada and the names of those injured and killed performing their duties during wartime service lengthens. Originally acknowledging the signing of the Armistice, heralding the end of hostilities in WW1, the Remembrance Day we now observe is less about the 3 months of diplomatic wrangling reaching its culmination in Ferdinand Foch’s rail car at Le Francport near Compeigne and, instead, is rightly and more poignantly focused to honour those who served in fighting forces, then and now. After 1921, Armistice Day in Canada was declared by Parliament, yet was confusedly tied up with Canadian Thanksgiving until 1931 when Parliament enacted the 11 of November as the new Remembrance Day, actually changing the date of Thanksgiving Day in the process! Likely those who were in their 20’s in 1919 had resumed their lives back home and had considerable influence in the life and politics of Canada while they were in their 30’s. If anyone had earned it, they had!
It took some time – the Remembrance Day we now know took root and grew in the lives and hearts of everyday Canadians. 64 years after 1931, in 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Remembrance Day had truly developed into a National Day of Remembrance and is unequivocally part of the Canadian experience.
We don’t have the luxury of another half century to give the justice due to Reconciliation and Acknowledgement, yet, there is action. There is hope. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a fact, today. There is a National Day focusing the conscious and honest commitment of Canadians to listen, learn, and change. It will never be sufficient, but it is a beginning.
