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Kelowna  

Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society sees progress in Truth and Reconciliation, hosting event this weekend

Gathering for truth, learning

The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation takes place Saturday, and in Kelowna, the the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society is hosting a public event that’s aimed at raising awareness across the community.

“It’s about being curious about what you don’t know and asking those questions," said Carol Archie of the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society. "As well as being able to understand as best you can."

The centre at 442 Leon Ave will be hosting on Sept. 30 children's activities, elders storytelling and a feast featuring bison bannock dogs. The public is invited between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.

As a daughter of a residential school survivor, Archie tells Castanet she's starting to see progress being made towards real truth and reconciliation.

“Just the support from the community is huge. It's shown the staff here at the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society how supported we are from the community. And the willingness from individuals who haven’t experienced what we have experienced, especially from our residential school survivors, how they’re willing to come in and learn," she continued.

For what was originally called Orange Shirt Day, a t-shirt design has been created by children of the society to help raise money for their Indigenous youth program.

"We have a lot of our youth that do different designs every year," Archie said, explaining this year's design is by Kaslan McKinney.

"To help empower our youth we ask them to do different designs and then all proceeds go to our youth program. It’s all about youth empowerment.”

Orange shirts and other "Original Born Art" can be purchased online on the society's website.



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