Certainly, it should be more than a holiday. If we go on like this, adding days here and there, the calendar is going to be filled up with days like Remembrance Day or June 24. Quebec is going to have a day on September 28, to commemorate the tragic death of Joyce Echaquan. There is no doubt that it will take more education, information and awareness, so that people do not forget.
As I told you, this is not a speech about victimization. I am here to remind you about the events we have lived through in the hope that this day can bring a glimmer of hope that we want to pass on in order to avoid a repetition of what we have always lived through, and the shame of being what we were made to be in the residential schools. Some died and were never able to tell their stories.
The government and the judges are saying that all the testimony of the former residential school students must be erased at a specific time, maybe in five or seven years. That concerns me, because it means erasing a large part, if not all, of a history that the world should know about.
I find that the day of commemoration is very important. It is being done with the orange shirts, you know. On September 28, we will have a day for Joyce and, on September 30, a day for former residential school students.
I don't know if having too many dates will end up making the thing meaningless. My fear is that the day will be used for financial considerations. I'm afraid that public servants will say that they will work from their cottages on that day instead of educating themselves. That's my concern. However, it's a fine initiative that the AFNQL supports, notwithstanding certain concerns that I have mentioned to you today.