This Thursday marks the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. Long-overdue, many are planning how they will mark this vital day in meaningful and active ways, and how they will create new traditions around healing and hope to carry on for years to come.
The Downie & Wenjack Fund has an extensive array of ideas for inspired and impactful ways that individuals, schools and companies can commemorate this Day of Truth and Reconciliation with their list of ReconciliACTION. DownieWenjack.ca also have listed these wonderful podcasts that have a wealth of knowledge to share:
Thunder Bay – Canadaland
Our Native Land – Tchadas Leo
Coffee with My Ma – Kaniehtiio Horn
The Historical Natives – Mackenzie Taylor and Josef Stafford
Residential Schools – Historica Canada and hosted by Shaneen Robinson-Desjarlais
The Secret Life of Canada – Falen Johnson, Leah Simone Bowen
The National Film Board of Canada is offering more than 50 years of Inuit, Métis and First Nations filmmaking for folks to explore for free with their Indigenous Cinema site. And The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation YouTube page delivers a wide-variety of videos with discussions examining colonization, Indigenous culture and experience, and finding a path forward together.
For further reading, The Native Women’s Association of Canada recently shared a powerful article from the University of British Columbia titled “8 Ways to Confront Residential School Denialism” and CBC has published two important pieces titled “The History Behind the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation” and “How To Talk To Kids About The National Day For Truth And Reconciliation”. For those who would like a more in-depth resource for children, visit the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada’s Call to Action document.
This Thursday Nightwood will gather to collectively review The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Call to Action, and strategize how we can contribute to moving these calls forward as a company and as individuals.
To build a better future together we must deeply examine the past, and commit to taking real and consistent action in the present.
Banner art: Susan Point, “Salish Vision”, 2001