Former Cowessess First Nation Chief says Sask.'s younger generations making most strides with truth and reconciliation

With Sept. 30 marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation the former Chief of Cowessess First Nation says it’s Saskatchewan’s young people leading the way.

Cadmus Delorme, who is now the chair of the residential school docs committee, said it’s his belief that younger people in the province are leading the way when it comes to truth and reconciliation thanks to better education than generations in the past.

“Yesterday I saw a young guy wearing an orange shirt at the mall and he was with a group of other non-Indigenous young guys and that was so nice to see and he just wore it so proudly,” Delorme said.

For Delorme the biggest challenge today is with adults who were not educated about reconciliation when they went to school.

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“We weren’t taught the truth and so it’s still a matter of we have to stand up and acknowledge the truth,” he said.

Delorme said it’s up to individuals to accept it and once people get past truth, reconciliation and each September 30 is going to be a day in which how much more progress has been made that year.

“Can I say we’ve gotten stronger in the last three years? I think the truth has gotten stronger but I don’t think we’ve moved much on reconciliation,” Delorme said.

For Delorme, it’s not about being critical in saying that, he said he feels people just need to work harder to make more progress when it comes to reconciling.

Delorme says he will be spending Saturday with his family and also taking part in Treaty 4 festivities.

“My kids are young Indigenous people and they are going to be big dreamers in this country so tomorrow I’ll be taking part in festivities around Treaty 4.”