Municipal leaders convened in St. John’s this week in hopes of advancing reconciliation efforts.
Councillors from CBS, Mount Pearl, St. John’s, Portugal Cove-St. Phillips and Paradise met with members of First Light to discuss ways each of the metro municipalities can improve its relations with Indigenous peoples.
Chad Bedard, the manager of knowledge mobilization, says many metro municipalities are making progress toward reconciliation, though much work remains.
“There are 18 calls for change under First Light’s calls for change. There are 42 total, but 18 of those calls for change fall within municipal jurisdiction, either fully or partially. So the hope is that this is a momentum builder so that we can start having some more conversations about those calls for change and how we advance those,” he told reporters.
Coun. Mark Rice (VOCM News)
Mount Pearl City Councillor Mark Rice says he hopes to build a better relationship with First Light and the Indigenous community.
“So we’re taking steps in the City of Mount Pearl to move forward and support First Light. Relationship building is so important to us,” he said.
“We’ve had social events with Sean and our team. We’ve had the orange shirts, did with Indigenous murals on there. We go to events. We have a mural that’s done in Centennial Square now.”
Many municipalities in this province have yet to complete more than one of the 18 calls to action from First Light.
