The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is September 30
This day represents Canada’s moral obligation to honour and remember survivors of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools and Day School programs. It is a day to support survivors, remember those who did not make it home, and advocate for those who are impacted intergenerationally. As part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action, we advocate any Reconciliation efforts from the Columbia College community.
Last year marked the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process. While this work requires a deliberate, ongoing process not bound by day or time, September 30 is a day to listen, learn, reflect, act, and ultimately be an active agent in change towards a stronger, more inclusive, and just Canada.
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day occurs on September 30, 2022. Orange Shirt Day is an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day that honours the children who survived residential schools and remembers those who did not. On September 30, we encourage everyone to wear orange to raise awareness and honour the thousands of survivors.
Here at Columbia College Calgary, we have put the following recommendations and resources together for those seeking ways they can observe Truth and Reconciliation on September 30th – and beyond.
What Can I Do?
Reflect
Consider your personal contributions to reconciliation.
Listen
Listen to those who are willing to share their stories and experiences, that is a privilege you have been given. Listen to Indigenous podcasts and musicians.
Acknowledge
Acknowledge the Residential school and other experiences of Indigenous Peoples.
Learn
Learn about the diversity of Indigenous communities across the country and specifically about those located where you live.
Read
Read materials created by Indigenous authors, share stories with children. Read and implement the Calls to Action by the Truth and Reconciliation.
Watch
Watch films and documentaries by Indigenous film-makers. Visit Indigenous exhibitions at GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) or cultural institutions.
Support
Support emerging and established Indigenous authors, artists, creators, communities, and groups. Volunteer at an Indigenous not-for-profit.
Advocate
Advocate for Indigenous causes and supports as invited to do so.
Read
Here is a collection of materials created by Indigenous authors. Read them, share them with children, and implement the Calls to Action.
The NCTR Archives and Collections is the foundation for ongoing learning and research. Here, Survivors, their families, educators, researchers, and the public can examine the residential school system more deeply with the goal of fostering reconciliation and healing.
- Learn about the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Here.
- The Centre is hosting events between September 27 – October 1 available to the public - Click here to view the schedule
Many laws affecting Indigenous Peoples were combined in 1876 to become the Indian Act. The Act gave Canada a coordinated approach to Indian policy rather than the pre-Confederation piece-meal approach.
What Are The Truth And Reconciliation 94 Calls To Action, And How Can We Better Engage With Them? Within current academic discourse there is a lot of discussion surrounding reconciliation, particularly centering around the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions 94 Calls to Action. Although these are referenced frequently, many students and academic staff still struggle to understand their purpose, and how to practically apply them to their specific departments.
This article breaks down the context they emerged from, simplifies the subjects within the Calls to Action, discusses what’s been done so far, and provides resources to help those within the field of education better engage with them on a daily basis.
Think Indigenous is a podcast that highlights its yearly conference keynotes & "Red Talk" presentations sharing best practices, innovation and delivery models of Indigenous education.
Educate yourself by listening to stories of those who survived a Canadian Residential School or the 60s Scoop such as:
-
- The Canadian Residential School Genocide – Short History Documentary
- Unrepentant: Canada’s Residential Schools Documentary
- Colonialism and Indian Residential Schools
- Aboriginal Education YouTube Channel
- Dark Cloud: 60s Scoot Survivor | Short Documentary
- Meet Angela, a Sixties Scoop Survivor
- The 60’s Scoop – There’s a Truth to be Told
- Stolen Children | Residential School survivors speak out
In her 2018 CBC Massey Lectures series, titled All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward, prize-winning journalist Tanya Talaga (author of Seven Fallen Feathers) explores the legacy of cultural genocide against Indigenous peoples. For Talaga, that cultural genocide has led to a forced disconnection from land and language by Indigenous peoples. The need now, she says, is for Indigenous self-determination in social, cultural and political arenas.
In his 2003 Massey lecture, award-winning author and scholar Thomas King looks at the breadth and depth of Native experience and imagination. Beginning with Native oral stories, King weaves his way through literature and history, religion and politics, popular culture and social protest, in an effort to make sense of North America's relationship with its Aboriginal peoples.
Listen
Listen to those who are willing to share their stories and experiences, that is a privilege you have been given. Here is a collection of Indigenous podcasts and musicians.
Watch
Visit Indigenous exhibitions at GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) or cultural institutions. Here is a collection of films and documentaries by Indigenous film-makers.
Indigenous languages across North America are under threat of extinction due to the colonial legacy of cultural erasure, says linguist Lindsay Morcom. Highlighting grassroots strategies developed by the Anishinaabe people of Canada to revive their language and community, Morcom makes a passionate case for enacting policies that could protect Indigenous heritage for generations to come.
Spanning generations, acknowledgement of the land is a traditional custom of Indigenous people when welcoming outsiders onto their land and into their homes. To build respectful relationships, acknowledging the land is an important part of reconciliation. It honours the authentic history of North America, its original people and tells the story of the creation of this country that has historically been missing.
- Click here to learn about Land Acknowledgement and watch the video “Stories of the land”.
This is an interactive web resource that is designed to assist educators with weaving Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing into their teaching and learning, starting with story. Responding to the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and to current provincial professional standards for education, this resource is intended to help teachers build foundational knowledge and competencies in Indigenous education. Here you will find a searchable database of Indigenous literary texts, as well as some secondary sources, that might be used within education
Enhance your understanding and knowledge of practices that advance reconciliation in the places where you live, learn, and work with this 6-Week Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
This course will help you envision how Indigenous histories, perspectives, worldviews, and approaches to learning can be made part of the work we do in classrooms, organizations, communities, and our everyday experiences in ways that are thoughtful and respectful. In this course, reconciliation emphasizes changing institutional structures, practices, and policies, as well as personal and professional ideologies to create environments that are committed to strengthening our relationships with Indigenous peoples.
Gord Downie began Secret Path as ten poems incited by the story of Chanie Wenjack, a twelve year-old boy who died fifty years ago on October 22, 1966, in flight from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School near Kenora, Ontario, walking home to the family he was taken from over 400 miles away. Gord was introduced to Chanie Wenjack (miscalled “Charlie” by his teachers) by Mike Downie, his brother, who shared with him Ian Adams’ Maclean’s story from February 6, 1967, “The Lonely Death of Charlie Wenjack.”
Secret Path acknowledges a dark part of Canada’s history – the long-supressed mistreatment of Indigenous children and families by the residential school system – with the hope of starting our country on a road to reconciliation.
- Learn more about A Secret Path by Gord Downie and the Wenjack Foundation here
alliedFutures Project — The alliedFutures Project is a guided event series led by a community of settlers, Elders and Knowledge Keepers. An educational toolkit to get informed, unlearn and unsettle.
As leaders in our community, it is important for us to unpack what it means to be a settler in Treaty 7 Territory. To move from intent to impact. Values to actions. Settler to Unsettler. We need to continuously learn how to consciously disrupt our mindsets and the spaces we’re in.
The alliedFutures toolkit is an interactive digital toolkit that provides you with resources and reflections throughout our 5-step journey: Sitting in Truth, Allyship, Accomplice, Decolonization and Indigenization, and Reconciliation.
Learn
Here are some resources available where you can learn about the diversity of Indigenous communities across the country and specifically about those located where you live.
Participate
Participate in one or more of the activities to recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
APTN is inviting audiences across Turtle Island to tune in to a series of special programs on APTN and APTN Lumi. As summer nears its end and a new season begins, we encourage Canadians to listen to and reflect on the experiences of Indigenous Peoples across the country. We can all learn from their stories of courage and resilience. You can watch the Sunrise Ceremony on APTN at 6 am ET CT MT and the other programming going on all day.
You can visit and learn about where buffalos were hunted and why they were so important to First Nations people at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Interpretive Centre is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site that preserves and interprets over 6,000 years of Plains Buffalo culture. Through vast landscapes, exhibits, and diverse programming, learn about the cultural significance of this cliff to the Plains People.
Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park is a Canadian National Heritage Site with a museum and Tipi Village. They have a stunning facility and that will send you on an unforgettable journey as you delight in fantastic Exhibitions and dazzling Performances, and enjoy an exciting, authentic, Blackfoot cultural experience.
Purchase authentic, traditional indigenous art or learn how to create your own at Moonstone Creations.
The Moss Bag Project is and Indigenous-led organization that creates sustainable and reciprocal structures of support through academic and traditional education.
Join the University of Calgary’s Office of Indigenous Engagement in partnership with Calgary Public Library for a panel discussion with Cora Voyageur, Lee Crowchild, and Kathleen Mahoney, revisiting the final report on Truth and Reconciliation in light of the unmarked graves, the papal visit, and the path forward. This panel will be moderated by Dr. Michael Hart, U of C’s Vice-Provost (Indigenous Engagement), with an opening prayer by Elder Reg Crowshoe and remarks from Sarah Meilleur, Calgary Public Library’s CEO.
- Register for the in-person event here
- If you are unable to make it to the event in-person, please register here to watch event live online.
A free walking tour where we will confront the colonial history of Fort Calgary, discuss our ongoing work to decolonize the stories we tell, and share insights about what we have learned about reconciliation so far. This settler-led tour offers an interactive and reflective opportunity for other settlers/non-Indigenous peoples to contemplate their own personal journeys in reconciliation. Fort Calgary is proud to present the Orange Shirt Day Walking Tour in partnership with Colouring it Forward. Recommended for ages 12+
When:Friday, Sept. 30, 2:00 - 2:45 pm
Where:Fort Calgary
Date: Thursday, September 29, 2022
Time: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Location: virtually! Register here to receive the online event link." Áísínai'pi" means to write on a stone. Rock painting provides exceptional testimony to the living cultural traditions of the Blackfoot People. You and your family are invited to learn through traditional rock painting as you hear stories, humour and traditional teachings from an Elder and community leaders. A local children’s author will share a reading from their book and discuss how Indigenous languages strengthen cultural and traditional practices. Rock painting supplies will be made available or create your own and join us!
To participate in this hands-on learning, please take time to gather the following:
- Go for a walk and find a rock that you wish to paint. River rocks work very well.
- Gather acrylic paints in the colours that you wish, paint brushes and a cup for water to cleanse your brush as you paint. Dollar stores and crafting places have many choices.
- Put down newspaper or scrap paper on your table for any spillage.
- Use a plastic tray, plate or pie tin to put your paints on.
Presented by Calgary Public Library in partnership with UCalgary’s Office of Indigenous Engagement, join us for a free viewing of Night Raiders with special remarks from Sarah Meilleur, Calgary Public Library’s CEO and Dr. Michael Hart, UCalgary’s Vice-Provost (Indigenous Engagement).Night Raiders is set in a post-war future that follows the journey of a mother trying to rescue her daughter from a state-run institution. From a dystopian sci-fi perspective, this thrilling and compelling story digs deep into Canada's painful past about the forced assimilation of indigenous peoples due to colonial practices.
- Date: Sept. 30
- Time: 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. MST
- Location: Patricia A. Whelan Performance Hall, Calgary Central Library