Here in Canada a reckoning is happening. The land that this nation-state was constituted on is considered stolen territory by the Indigenous peoples. In one of the darkest periods of the late 19th and early 20th century is the role that the government and churches played in what is known as the Residential Schools system, where Indigenous children were taken away from their families and communities with the goal of "educating the Indian out of them." In the majority of instances these were never places of education, but an almost genocidal policy that included physical and sexual abuses. This continued until 1996 when the last such institution was closed. Former students demanded recognition and restitution for the wrongs, resulting in the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement in 2007 and a public apology by the prime minister in 2008. In the last month or so, a number of mass and unmarked graves on the site of some of these schools were discovered, something that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission pointed out and needed addressing in its final report. Given these developments many Canadians have called for cancellation of Canada Day festivities (today) — easy to do in a pandemic. In its place many communities have organized commemorations with Indigenous communities to honour the dead and reckon with the past. So, here I am on my Utata Thursday Walk, resting on a former railway line, a symbol of what created in Canada in the first place, uniting a former British colony from sea to sea. I rode past walkers and cyclists wearing orange t-shirts in solidarity with the Indigenous communities. And so, pardon the preamble, since this is Thursday and we go out for our weekly Utata Photo Walk. Tag 'em with utata:project=793 and post one small image in this thread.