The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation takes place today, September 30. It’s a day across the country to honour the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families, and communities.
As part of observing the day, our staff at AITC-M have been encouraged to watch, listen, read, and experience in learning and reflection to honour the healing journey of residential school Survivors. We urge teachers, students, and our partners in taking this time as well.
Here are a selection of experiences and resources to inform yourself and reflect on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Experience
Thank you to the University of Manitoba and UM Today for this listing.
Remembering the Children hosted by NCTR
Sept. 30, 12 p.m. CDT (virtual, in person on Parliament Hill, Ottawa)
Orange Shirt Day Survivors Walk hosted by Wa-Say Healing Centre, The Forks, City of Winnipeg, True North Sports and Entertainment, Unifor the Union, Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg Sea Bears, NCI Spirit of Manitoba
Sept. 30, 10 a.m.
Meet at Oodena Circle (The Forks), 1 Forks Market Rd. (Winnipeg)
Orange Shirt Day pow wow hosted by Wa-Say Healing Centre, The Forks, City of Winnipeg, True North Sports and Entertainment, Unifor the Union, Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg Sea Bears, NCI Spirit of Manitoba
Sept. 30, 1 to 6 p.m.
Canada Life Centre, 300 Portage Ave. (Winnipeg)
Day of Reflection: Sacred fire and gathering hosted by Anish Corporation, Manito Ahbee Festival Inc., The 60s Scoop Legacy of Manitoba
Sept. 30, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
St John’s Park, 1201 Main St. (Winnipeg)
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event hosted by Winnipeg Art Gallery – Qaumajuq, National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
Sept. 30, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Winnipeg Art Gallery – Qaumajuq, 300 Memorial Blvd. (Winnipeg)
Freeze-up Ride to Morris hosted by Victory Riders
Sept. 30, 1 p.m.
Stampede Park (Morris, MB)
Orange Shirt Days hosted by Manitoba Museum, NCTR, Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba (TRCM), National Indigenous Residential School Museum, Parks Canada, the Mackay Residential School Gathering Inc., the Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Centre
Sept. 30—Oct. 2, daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Manitoba Museum, 190 Rupert Ave. (Winnipeg)
Visit the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation website to learn more about work being done to support truth, reconciliation and healing across Canada.
Watch
Orange Shirt Day videos
Beyond 94 – CBC Interactives
A new national, interactive website will now monitor the progress of one of Canada's most important tools for change — the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action. Beyond 94, created by the CBC, provides up-to-date status reports, as well as extensive summaries explaining those status reports. Already, the website has revealed a telling statistic: as of March 2018, just 10 out of the 94 Calls to Action have been completed.
Every Child Matters - National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
TRC Mini-Documentary: Senator Murray – How can Canadians work toward reconciliation
The Pass System
Illuminates Canada’s hidden history of racial segregation. For over 60 years, the Canadian government denied many Indigenous peoples the basic freedom to leave their reserves without a pass. Nehiyaw, Saulteaux, Dene, Ojibwe and Niitsitapi elders tell their stories of living under and resisting the system and link their experiences.
We were children – NFB
In this feature film, the profound impact of the Canadian government's residential school system is conveyed through the eyes of two children who were forced to face hardships beyond their years.
Sleeping Children Awake – Magic Arrow Productions
Sleeping Children Awake is one of the earliest independent, feature length documentaries to broadcast on the Residential School System. It won several awards including "Best Canadian Documentary 1993."
Stolen Children: Residential School Survivors Tell Their Stories – CBC
Stolen Children explores the impact of residential schools on former students and their children and grandchildren. Survivors share their harrowing experiences and discuss the legacy of fear, abuse and suicide being passed down from generation to generation.
Violation of Trust – The Fifth Estate
A searing examination of Canada's 100 years of native residential schools, where Indigenous children had their culture and language beaten out of them, leaving a legacy of alcoholism, abuse and emotional scars.
The Secret Path – CBC Arts
This powerful animated film tells the story of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Ojibwa boy who died of exposure in 1966 while running away from Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School near Kenora, Ontario.
Listen
Stolen by Connie Walker
Season 2 is all about her dad’s experience at St. Michael’s Residential School in Saskatchewan. Wonderful storytelling by an incredible Canadian Indigenous Woman who won a Pulitzer Prize for this.
Read
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
The book presents recent research findings in different fields that suggest human populations in the Western Hemisphere—that is, the indigenous peoples of the Americas—were more numerous, had arrived earlier, were more sophisticated culturally, and controlled and shaped the natural landscape to a greater extent than scholars had previously thought.
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act
Based on a viral article, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act is the essential guide to understanding the legal document and its repercussion on generations of Indigenous Peoples, written by a leading cultural sensitivity trainer.
The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America
The Inconvenient Indian is at once a “history” and the complete subversion of a history - in short, a critical and personal meditation that the remarkable Thomas King has conducted over the past 50 years about what it means to be “Indian” in North America. Rich with dark and light, pain and magic, this book distills the insights gleaned from that meditation, weaving the curiously circular tale of the relationship between non-Natives and Natives in the centuries since the two first encountered each other.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert).
Our Story: Aboriginal Voices on Canada’s Past
A collection of original stories written by some of the country’s most celebrated Aboriginal writers and inspired by pivotal events in the country’s history. Inspired by history, Our Story is a beautifully illustrated collection of original stories from some of Canada’s most celebrated Aboriginal writers. Asked to explore seminal moments in Canadian history from an Aboriginal perspective, these ten acclaimed authors have travelled through our country’s past to discover the moments that shaped our nation and its people.