West Coast Now
As a reporter with the network, CTV News Ben Miljure is used to investigating the news.
But he recently made the decision to travel to Alert Bay and investigate his past.
Miljure decided to make the trip for the Cook family reunion, a large and well-known Indigenous family in the community. “Getting that sense of belonging has never been easy,” he shares in the video.
He opens up and remarks how reporting on children’s graves discovered at former residential school sites last year deeply affected him. He then felt compelled to find his mother Elizabeth Hill, who he was able to track down and meet in Toronto, and connect with the Cooks.
Namgis Big House, the cultural gathering place for the Namgis First Nation, held the Cook family reunion and a special ceremony for Miljure to be welcomed into the family.
“I have this sense of relief. This weight is lifted off my shoulders. I feel like I am where I belong,” an emotional Miljure shares amongst his family at the reunion. “I really took the long way around, but I am so happy to be home.”
