Hundreds of people are expected to walk along Commonwealth Avenue to take part in the Sorry Day Bridge Walk next week in honour of the children of the Stolen Generation.
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Organiser Ian Bateman, a healthy lifestyle worker at the Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service, said the walk was open to all people and hoped Canberrans would come out in big numbers.
"We want to move forward, but black Australia has a history,'' he said.
"We want to move on and be able to walk together with all people so we that can move on together.
"One of the biggest impacts around Stolen Generation is dispossession and loss of identity, and with identity comes belonging. For people to know where they come from and the history of where they came from is really important and when it's known it can be taught to the kids.
"A lot has been lost on this side of the country around land and language and culture, and to have strong children, we need strong identity.''
The bridge walk will be held on Friday, May 23, and will precede National Sorry Day, which has been held on May 26 each year since 1998, a year after the release of the Bringing Them Home report.
However, the apology made by former prime minister Kevin Rudd on February 13, 2008, also had great significance to the bridge walkers.
Winnunga Nimmityjah chief executive Julie Tongs said the apology was fresh in the memories of many people.
"It was very powerful,'' she said. "It brought back a lot of memories for a lot of people and I think it was just a relief that somebody finally stood up and said 'sorry'.
"Sorry is a very powerful word and it admits that it was wrong. You can never move forward unless that can be recognised.''
Ms Tongs said she wanted the federal government to fund a program to help high-risk Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people learn to successfully parent their children.
"The impact of the Stolen Generation has created so much trauma and a lot of people are very institutionalised,'' she said.
"We want the next generation to be better off. We want to send support workers into homes in the morning to help get the kids breakfast and pack lunches and get the children off to school. Then we want them back there in the afternoon to do the homework, dinner and bedtime routine.
"It's about reprogramming people and making their lives more normal, but having the support to do that. I think that is what's going to make the difference.
"We need to work with mothers and families from the very time of conception, with programs through to birth and 12 years of age. Those are the formative years and that's when you need to make a difference.
"On the other hand, if by the time they are eight or nine years old, if they are out of control it's very hard to turn them back. The amount of money spent on foster care should be paid for individual support to be there in the morning and in the afternoon.
"That is the way we are going to get strong Aboriginal people – through the kids and their families – and that will do a lot to close the gap.''
The bridge walk will begin at Regatta Point at 10.30am on May 23 with a smoking ceremony and welcome to country, and it will conclude with entertainment from the dance group Solid Young Fellas and refreshments.
