Lester Gardiner has a vision of what reconciliation will look like for indigenous students in Horizon School Division.

“It’s more than equity,” said Gardiner, the division's First Nations, Metis and Inuit education coordinator.

“We’re looking at being full participants, knowing our identity and moving forward with our identity that we’re able to move freely within society without having our skin colour being the basis of all this turmoil.”

Children learn the behaviour of adults, and if adults can’t get along neither will they, and misunderstandings will continue, Gardiner said.

Horizon School Division raised a Reconciliation Flag and the flags of Horizon's four First Nation partners - Day Star First Nation, Fishing Lake First Nation, George Gordon First Nation and Muskowekwan First Nation - at its central office building on Thursday.

The event recognized National Indigenous Peoples Day and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action.

“Having something like this builds that empathy, but also that mutual understanding of moving forward together in a collaborative way,” Gardiner said.