Justin Trudeau spending day in Kamloops with Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Kamloops on Monday to meet with the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, more than two weeks after admittedly making a mistake by travelling to Tofino instead of spending the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with members of the community.

It’s a visit many think he should have made on Sept. 30, with his decision to forego invitations by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc for a family vacation sparking outrage nationwide.

Members of the community had invited him to mark the day with residential school survivors and their families. However, their invites went unanswered.

In the weeks following the blunder, Trudeau has apologized publicly, saying he regrets the decision and that he was “in error.”

The prime minister’s latest controversy has raised expectations for many, with the president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs saying Trudeau still has a lot to prove.

“We want to move beyond Trudeau’s meaningless apologies, beyond his empty promises, and see something along the lines of a very well-funded, well-staffed healing center full of bells and whistles to begin to attend to the terrible trauma that residential school survivors suffered at the hands of the nuns and the priests and staff at these residential schools,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip.

“People that went to that school and were severely abused — sexually, physically abused, emotionally and spiritually abused. So we’re hoping that the prime minister will see fit to make an iron-clad commitment and promise.”

Related articles:

• Justin Trudeau headed to Kamloops to visit Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc on Monday

• No response from Trudeau to invitation an ‘insult’: Tk’emlups te Secwepemc

• ‘It was a mistake’: Justin Trudeau apologizes for Tofino trip on Truth and Reconciliation Day

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The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc has called on the federal government to fund an Indigenous healing centre in the community, so that tangible progress towards meaningful reconciliation can happen.

Phillip says many people in the community have become disappointed with Trudeau’s leadership.

“The prime minister has lost his magic aura. We’re extremely disappointed and disgusted with his lack of follow-through with all of the grandiose commitments he made over his tenure,” he said.

“We’re not interested in his meaningless, phony apologies. We want substance, we want concrete results, otherwise he can darn well stay home.”

The prime minister’s itinerary says he will spend Monday in private meetings with Chief Rosanne Casimir and council, as well as residential school and intergenerational survivors.

His visit comes months after the remains of 215 Indigenous children were discovered at the site of the Kamloops residential school. The discovery in May was followed by similar confirmations across the country, with hundreds of other remains located at other former residential school sites in Canada.