Penticton, BC, is following the lead of Victoria in cancelling its Canada Day celebrations as a means of expressing reconciliation over the recent discovery of unmarked graves of Indigenous children at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops.
CBC reports that the Mayor of Penticton John Vassilaki said "When we heard what happened in Kamloops and they found the 215 unmarked graves of those children, we thought it was appropriate to hold back and wait to see what the federal government was going to announce."
CBC added that "the federal government has not announced any plans to cancel national celebrations" as of yet.
Vassilak says that he consulted with Chief Greg Gabriel of the Penticton Indian Band before making the decision.
"[Gabriel] also made a note that if we were to cool down the celebrations this year, it would be greatly appreciated by the Penticton Indian Band," Vassilak told the CBC, "And we wanted to show respect and reconciliation with what happened in Kamloops."
"It did help when we knew our capital city cancelled it. So that's a good sign for the rest of the province to follow."
This comes after Victoria, BC, cancelled Canada earlier this week.