215km in Indigenous History Month

**trigger warning**

I have not been able to find the words or the energy to deal with the feelings that come up when I read that the bodies of 215 children were discovered at Kamloops IRS. I understand the collective immense pain the indigenous community is experiencing right now and am lost for how to react. There is a deep sadness that 215 families of indigenous kin could have been here today. There is so much anger that the government still denies responsibility for any cultural loss from these schools. There is defeat when I think about how to contribute to the healing of our communities.

Over the last year, I have used running as a way to heal myself and ground me in hard moments. So I’ve decided to use my way of healing to raise money for an organization that supports healing of IRS survivors.

Dev and I will be raising money for the Indian Residential School Survivors Society by committing to run 215km each by July 1st in honour of the 215 children and Indigenous history month. If you can, please donate.

On June 21st we will be running 21.5km in honour of National Indigenous People’s Day. We encourage everyone to join us.

Artwork by Luke Swinson

**Information Post**

National Indigenous People’s Day | 21.5km | Sunday, June 20, 2021

We have decided to hold the half marathon the day before Indigenous Peoples Day on the Sunday rather than the Monday before work.

Meeting time is 7:45 am at Science World.
Run starts at 8:00 am.
Feel free to bike/walk/run/blade/skateboard
Please wear orange if you have it.

If you are joining please send Devin or I a message so we can organize numbers. Can't wait to see you all there!