The family of an Indigenous man who died in Canberra's jail last year say they will continue to fight for justice for him but will "never, ever recover" from his loss.
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Steven Freeman's family, including his young daughter, led at least 1000 marchers over Commonwealth Bridge on National Sorry Day on Friday.
Mr Freeman's mother, Narelle King, helped to hold a large Aboriginal flag at the head of the march.
She was embraced by family members dressed in red hoodies, Mr Freeman's favourite colour, as she sobbed for her lost boy.
Mr Freeman's niece Sianna Eland said the family had been overwhelmed by the community's support.
"It's pretty hard. We've all struggled but we've all stuck together to try and get through it but at the end of the day all we want are the answers and the truth and that's all we want. We want justice for Steven," she said.
"With all of the help from the community it helps us go that little bit further to get justice and peace for Steve."
Mr Freeman's sister Sarah Phillips said she wanted people to remember him for the kind, sweet man he was.
"As you can imagine as a young Indigenous boy he was portrayed in so many negative ways, but what people were saying i s[from] people who genuinely never met him and only read about him in the papers and things like that.
"He was kind. You are not going to meet a more genuinely kind person. He was the sweetest.
"Hearing he was a young Indigenous boy you straight away thought the worst and you could not have been more wrong if you tried.
"Anybody else in the family you could think that about and you'd probably be right but Stephen was one of a kind and our family will never ever recover from it ever. We will never ever recover from it."
Mr Freeman died inside the Alexander Maconochie Centre in May 2016, with an autopsy finding a toxic amount of methadone in his system.
Former integrity commissioner Philip Moss found that the treatment of Mr Freeman was substandard and marred by a series of failings involving corrections, police, and health authorities and the government is about to make sweeping changes in response to Mr Moss's report.
The inquest into Mr Freeman's death was adjourned until August.
The bridge walk was organised by the Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service and marks the start of Reconciliation Week.
Saturday also marks 50 years since the 1967 referendum, in which Australia voted to count Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the census and give the Australian Government the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
As Indigenous leaders attend a First Nations Convention at Uluru to talk about constitutional recognition, Winnunga chief executive Julie Tongs said Australians needed to address racism before a solution would be found.
"At the end of the day we've all got a view as Aboriginal people and we're all entitled to our view.
"We don't expect the wider community to all agree so why should we expect the Aboriginal community to all agree.
"I think there is work to be done but I'm not sure we'll get the same vote as we did back in 1967.
"I think until we address racism in this country I don't know how we're going to move forward."
