ST. PAUL - There will be no Canada Day fireworks in St. Paul following a decision last night by town council to postpone fireworks to Heritage Day or Labour Day long weekends as the country reels from the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of children at the sites of residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. The decision was reached after a brief discussion that came on the heels of a written statement from Mayor Maureen Miller, which was read by CAO Kim Heyman in the mayor’s absence.
“I’m sure any of you who follow Facebook will know this has become quite an issue over the weekend and certainly one that has caused Mayor Miller a great deal of concern and she has sent a statement to all of you,” Heyman said.
“As a community that I know grieves alongside our neighbours, I reached out to our leaders to first express condolences and ask how we can help. We have been asked by some members of our community to cancel Canada Day. I would like to share my thoughts,” stated Miller.
“You can’t cancel Canada Day, but we could choose to cancel how, as a municipality, we celebrate. We have been awakened by the tragedy that is unfolding around us. Let’s honour the lives and the subsequent generations that have been affected. Our options are to cancel or amend activities with the purposes of bringing awareness to the community of the real truth in Canadian history. I would suggest, at the least, to postpone the fireworks.
“As we prepare for Canada Day, take this time to commit to learn about truth and reconciliation; educate yourself about treaties that you are a part of; read about why residential schools were built and absorb the truth of the atrocities that were inflicted on these innocent children and the impact to the families and communities they were removed from, and the ongoing impact of inequities, mental health, addictions. Know all this happened right within our community. Learn about the Sixties Scoop.
“If you really want to learn and be the change, become an ally. There are many new Canadians being sworn in on Canada Day - help them learn our true history, not the one that we’ve been taught. We can do better. If we must celebrate, can we balance our celebration with meaningful education,” Miller concluded.
Heyman presented council with a list of several possible options which ranged from moving ahead with the fireworks as planned, cancelling the fireworks, rescheduling for July 2 – which was removed from the list due to unavailability of fire department personnel, reschedule to the Labour Day long weekend, or change the name and focus of the fireworks to “display something more relevant to the current situation,” or option 6 – anything else that council felt would be appropriate.
Coun. Ron Boisvert suggested possibly rescheduling to Family Day in February given that holiday is associated with families.
Coun. Nathan Taylor made a motion to postpone the fireworks, with administration exploring the options of Heritage Day long weekend of Labour Day long weekend.
“I believe this needs to be postponed as a symbolic gesture, as a symbolic moment of silence for the recognition of the loss of lives that have been discovered. I think it is important that our community recognizes those loss of lives,” Taylor said.
“As a community, we have been working towards reconciliation and continue to do so through education and collaboration with our Indigenous neighbours,” Coun. Norm Noel said, speaking. “The loss of life should never be taken lightly and by no means is Canada Day meant to do that, but rather to celebrate the life of a multicultural nation whose story continues to develop be it bad or good. I feel Canada Day, the good and bad, have to come out. By cancelling events, to me, you’re hiding stuff. Instead, I would rather invite our Indigenous community to partake in this event and help tell this story and bring it to light.”
With no other comments from council, Taylor’s motion to postpone the fireworks passed with the support of councilors Gary Ward, Taylor and Ron Boisvert. Coun. Brad Eamon and Noel voted against it. Coun. Tyson DeMoissac was not in attendance.
Other Canada Day activities in the community will proceed as scheduled between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the St. Paul Rec. Centre. Activities include a car show hosted by the St. Paul Cruisers Car Club and a scavenger hunt hosted by the Town of St. Paul FCSS.
