The government of Saskatchewan has announced plans to build a permanent monument to honour residential school survivors at Government House in Regina.
The monument is in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Call to Action No. 82, which recommends installing a publicly accessible, highly visible, Residential Schools Monument in each capital city to honour survivors and all the children who were lost to their families and communities, the government said in a media release.
“The monument will be part of the healing journey,” Lieutenant Governor Russ Mirasty said. “And I look forward to continuing my ongoing conversations with Elders and Knowledge Keepers as we work together to develop this meaningful and lasting tribute.”
After being in limbo since its original scheduled celebration back in April, the Samuel McLeod Business Awards (SMBA) now have a set date. The awards will be presented on Feb. 25 on stage at the EA Rawlinson Centre, and will be live-streamed on Prince Albert & District Chamber of Commerce’s YouTube channel that evening at 7 p.m.
The event usually attracts around 300 people, but there will be a limit to 30 people on stage due to COVID-19 guidelines. There were 30 finalists, who will be asked if they would like to attend or to pre-record their acceptance speech.
Chamber CEO Elise Hildebrandt said the chamber’s Plan A is to put on the awards show as “a hybrid” between being on-stage, as well as using livestreaming and pre-recorded videos for the event. Should COVID-19 guidelines change and institute further restrictions, Hildebrandt said the chamber is prepared to run the entire show online to completely eliminate contact between the nominees.