On National Truth and Reconciliation Day Saturday, it’s the seventh annual Rock Your Roots Walk in Saskatoon to acknowledge the impacts of residential schools and demonstrate commitment to reconciliation. It begins with a pancake breakfast at Central Urban Métis Federation Inc (8 a.m. – 10 a.m.) and then the walk goes from there to Reconciliation Circle in Victoria Park where there will be speakers, entertainment and games for the kids.

CUMFI President Shirley Isbister invites everyone to join the walk and suggests wearing an orange shirt or something from your culture. She adds that a lot of Survivors participate and it’s a way to honour what residential school survivors have gone through as well as descendants of Survivors. Isbister estimates there were over 4,000 people at last year’s Rock Your Roots.

Rock Your Roots is put on by Reconciliation Saskatoon, which the City of Saskatoon co-chairs along with the Office of the Treaty Commissioner.
The City says in a news release the significance of doing a walk relates back to the Sunday walks in residential schools that often served as the only time when siblings and cousins of different genders would see each other.

Saskatoon residents are being reminded that payment will still be required in City-managed pay parking areas on National Day for Truth & Reconciliation on Saturday, a sit is not a statutory holiday in the province.

Public parking is metered from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Saturday, however payment is not required outside these hours, on Sundays or on statutory holidays.