Penticton cancelling Canada Day celebrations this year

PENTICTON (NEWS 1130) — Another community in B.C. is cancelling its Canada Day festivities this year.

In a statement, Penticton Mayor John Vassilaki explains the city wanted to switch up its normal celebrations to honour the history, culture, and traditions of Indigenous people.

However, given time constraints and pandemic crowd limits, they couldn’t make it happen.

“… the City is not able to offer Canada Day activities that we consider appropriate,” the statement reads. “We encourage you to spend the day with your family and take time to reflect on Canada’s history and consider what we can each do to work towards an inclusive community.”

It comes about a week after Victoria cancelled its Canada Day events following the discovery of 215 children buried at a former residential school in Kamloops.

Related articles:

• Victoria cancels Canada Day celebration in wake of Kamloops discovery

• ‘Cancel Canada Day’ march in Vancouver draws attention to systemic racism

• ‘Convenient ignorance:’ Canadians’ knowledge of residential schools woefully lacking

• Discovery of children’s remains at former Kamloops residential school an ‘unthinkable loss’

Speaking to NEWS 1130 Sunday, Vassilaki says that cancelling Canada Day celebrations is in the best interest of the community, and First Nations communities in B.C.

“We thought that it will be in the best interest … for us to show some respect them and take another step towards reconciliation with what happened in in our history,” he says, noting that although he, and many members of his community did not have anything directly to do with residential schools, “We should still bear some responsibility for what happened.”

Vassilaki says that Canada is the most peaceful country in the world, making mention of former Prime Minister Lester Pearson’s global peace keeping efforts that protected folks who were in danger.

“So we have to continue to do all the good things that Canada is known for. And this is one of the reasons why in Penticton, we decided to forego our celebrations for this year,” he says.

Vassilaki says Pentiction City Council and the Penticton Indian Band have been having council-to-council meetings, and have offered the Band assistance.

“We offered them anything that we could do to help them out, and their community. Because there’s a lot of people that live on Penticton Indian Band Reserve here in Penticton, who has experienced those schools, and the relatives experience that schooling there.

Vassilaki says that on Canada Day, he wants non-Indigenous people to stop and think about what it would be like to be “treated that way and try to visualize how they felt now, and how they feel today.”

“And you know, everybody can celebrate Canada Day in their own way. Nobody’s depriving them of it. But … together we have to be united in the cause that we’re trying to put forward,” he Vassilaki says.

Meanwhile, the City of Port Hardy voted last week to cancel their Canada Day celebrations, while Festivals Kelowna announced Sunday it will not go-ahead with its own celebrations.

The federal government has not announced plans to cancel the typical celebrations on Parliament Hill.