Truth & Reconciliation – Justice Resources for Settlers
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: A chance for reflection and reconciliation
This page contains truth and reconciliation justice resources for settlers, and information about the terrible legacy of colonial genocide of Indigenous people that continues in Canada to this day.
Information here may be triggering to some readers. Support is made available to survivors and their families 24 hours a day at the Indian Residential School Survivors Society’s crisis line at 1-866-925-4419.
The discovery of the bodies of 215 Indigenous children buried in an unmarked grave on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops BC brings urgent focus on the need to acknowledge and dismantle systemic, intentional, and state-sanctioned genocide.
I grapple with feelings of horror, despair, hopelessness and helplessness around this ugly reality daily, recognizing that my horror, despair, helplessness and hopelessness amount to nothing unless they are put into action.
This list is by no means comprehensive, and I am by no means an expert.
I will leverage my privilege and voice in any way I can until justice is realized, confronting my bias and continuing to learn how to be an effective ally.
Please contact me with additions, suggestions for revisions and edits.
Know whose land you occupy. Say the names. Acknowlege.
I live, work and love on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnabe People, on the banks of the sacred waters of the Kitchissippi and the ancient gathering place on the waterfalls named Asinabka by Grandfather William Commanda. You can watch Matt Lemay‘s documentary film about the Kitchissippi here.
Native Land is a website run by the nonprofit organization Native Land Digital, guided by a Board of Directors and an Advisory Council, funded by riendly organizations and individual donors. This resource provides information for knowing whose stolen land you stand on.
Political Legacy
Canada ‘complicit in race-based’ genocide of Indigenous Women
The NDP has proposed in Canada’s House of Commons that the government immediately cease fighting Indigenous children in court. MP for Nunavut, Mumilaaq Qaqqaq spoke to the motion June 3. Watch and listen here.
This is not Canada’s past history. The genocide perpetuated with the residential school system continues today with “child protection” policies across the country.
The children buried on the grounds of the Kamloops residential school would be approximately 55 years old now.
Why Aboriginal Peoples Can’t Just “Get Over It” – Understanding and addressing intergenerational trauma
Criminal Podcast – Starlight Tours Episode: “In January 2000, the bodies of two First Nations men were found frozen in a remote area of Saskatoon, Canada. It was a place where nobody walked, especially in the winter. And then, a man named Darrell Night came forward and said he had been dropped off by police on the outskirts of town, but he had made it back alive. We speak with former police officer Ernie Louttit and reporter Dan Zakreski about the deaths of Neil Stonechild, Lawrence Wegner, and Rodney Naistus, and “starlight tours” within the Saskatoon Police Service.”
Genocide, racism and Canada Day: An Algonquin-Anishinaabekwe love letter
Take Action
10 Things You Can Do: Kamloops Indian Residential School
Non-Indigenous people — here’s what you can do, right now
Settlers Take Action from the ON Canada Project, “a grassroots, volunteer-based project. We bring together your friendly neighbourhood nerds, active citizens and change-agents in order to help keep Millennials and Gen Z informed and engaged with issues impacting Canadians, prominently COVID-19 right now.” This resource includes information on how to contact your elected representatives to demand reconciliation and action (#reconciliACTION) here.
Reconciliation Canada provides resources and toolkits for community action.
Death was the Point: Interrupting our shock at colonial practices
Teaching Tools:
Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools
Participate in a blanket exercise.
Ravens: Messengers of Change Downloadable PDF Activity Book
The University of Alberta offers a free Indigenous Canada course: 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.
News & Resources
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission: read the report and the 94 calls to action (only 5 of which have been implemented by the current Liberal government whose leader promised in 2015 to implement them all.
This Narwhal Newsletter contains backgrounder information and links to essential reading and information reposted here: