Sept 30th – National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Learn
The day honours the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.
The creation of this federal statutory holiday was through legislative amendments made by Parliament. On June 3, 2021, Bill C-5, An Act to amend the Bills of Exchange Act, the Interpretation Act and the Canada Labour Code (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation) received Royal Assent.
https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-day-truth-reconciliation.html
Read the 94 calls to action of the Truth and Reconcilation Commission In a summary report released earlier this year, the commission published 94 “calls to action” urging all levels of government — federal, provincial, territorial and aboriginal — to work together to change policies and programs in a concerted effort to repair the harm caused by residential schools and move forward with reconciliation. Even the act of reading these recommendations is an important step toward reconciliation. The full reports are broken down into small parts, easy to read, accessible anywhere…download PDF is free, audible, buy on your kindle, listen on YouTube.
Read a book or listen to a podcast:
- Media Indigena: a weekly podcast by Indigenous producers on a variety of Canadian news topics
- The Secret Life of Canada podcast: a history podcast about the country you know and the stories you don’t.
- Bead by Bead: Yvonne Boyer and Larry Chartrand: Bead by Bead lays bare the failure of judicial doctrine and government policy to address Métis rights, and offers constructive insights on ways to advance reconciliation.
- They Came for the Children: Canada, Aboriginal Peoples, and Residential Schools: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada staff: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada published this history as a part of its mandate to educate the Canadian public about residential schools and their place in Canadian history.
- Residential Schools, With the Words and Images of Survivors: Larry Loyie, Wayne K. Spear and Constance Brissenden: “This essential volume written by award-winning author Larry Loyie (Cree), a survivor of St. Bernard Mission residential school in Grouard, AB, and co-authored by Constance Brissenden and Wayne K. Spear (Mohawk), reflects the ongoing commitment of this team to express the truths about residential school experiences and to honour the survivors whose voices are shared in this book.”
- Summary of the Indian Act: This is an excellent, brief, plain language explanation of an act which is shockingly still in effect today in spite of its initial objective of control and assimilation, to “continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian department.”
- Some other great books:
- Peace Pipe Dreams: The Truth about Lies about Indians, Darryl Dennis
- Indian Horse, Richard Wagamese
- Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimerer
- 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, Bob Joseph
- The Inconvenient Indian, Thomas King
This is an indigenous-owned book store in Nanaimo (don’t support Amazon when you can support local, indingenous booksellers)
(some award winning) children’s books by Nicola Campbell:
- Shi-shi-etko (illustrations derived from photos of Meredith, age 6, used in elementary schools nationally)
- Shin-shin’s canoe
- Grandpa’s girls
- A day with yayah
- Spiexm
- Stand like a Cedar (illustrated by Carrie Victor) I do have copies for the office’s preschoolers, I’m still trying to get the author and illustrator together to sign them all.
Quick Reads on racism:
- Racism Pt. 1: Know the Facts About Aboriginal Peoples
- Social Determinants of Health: Understanding Racism
- Social Determinants of Health: Indigenous Experiences with Racism and its Impacts
Act and Support
Wear orange. Read Phyllis Webstad’s Story Behind Orange Shirt Day
Donate!
The Indian Residential School Survivor Society (IRSSS) is a provincial organization with a twenty-year history of providing services to Indian Residential School Survivors. They strive to provide physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual growth, development, and healing through culturally-based values and guiding principles for Survivors, Families, and Communities.
Attend the Food is our Medicine Webinar Across the country, over 300 leaders in health care and community work are deepening their understanding of the complex relationships between Indigenous foodways, reconciliation, healing and health care with Food is Our Medicine. You can now explore a self-paced Learning Journey and a multimedia Digital Resource Library to learn about Indigenous perspectives, cultures and foodways, and reflect on how to work towards decolonization and reconciliation in your workplace and personal life. This series was developed by the Indigenous and Allies Advisory in collaboration with Nourish, and with the contributions of Indigenous artists and artisans.
Take the Indigenous Canada Online U of A Course. Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada. From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores key issues facing Indigenous peoples today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations.
Some Cool Clothing
- Street wear (a bit radical)Section 35
- Couture (from Nanaimo to Paris and New York Ay Lelum | Coast Salish Clothing and Art
- Backpacks etc (Washington is Coast Salish too)Salish Style | Indigenous-designed Clothing and Accessories
- A nice store in Pikes Place Market Seattle (this is the only wool blanket company that is indigenous owned)Eighth Generation