National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

SUPPLEMENT TO THE FREE PRESS • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 3 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation By Kristin Marand I n 2021, a new federal statutory day of commemoration was created and Sept. 30 was declared the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. After speaking with residential school Survivors to uncover the far-reaching effects and systemic abuses ex- perienced at the hands of federally regulated schools, the Truth and Reconciliation Com- mission (TRC) published a report of 94 Calls to Action in 2015 after seven years of gather- ing accounts. "I think Truth and Reconciliation Day is about the fact that Canada systemically, in a very racist way, began the dissection of Indig- enous cultures and communities by attacking them through their children. The process wasn't just the removal of the children. It was also a systemic intention to minimize Indig- enous cultures," says David Gray, president of the Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres. Gray is not Indigenous but has been working with Friendship Centres for more than 40 years. The National Day for Truth and Reconcili- ation was established in response to Call to Action 80 and is meant to honour those who never returned from residential schools, Sur- vivors, their families and communities, and to ensure that public commemoration of the devastating history and ongoing legacy of residential schools remains a vital compo- nent in the process of reconciliation. "It reflects, at least to some extent, that Canada has recognized that it as a nation has failed Indigenous people. And that by fail- ing to care for those societal structures and failing to care for those children, they have caused intergenerational harm that is going to be extraordinarily difficult to undo. That's just sort of a surface level of what it means. The secondary level is, I think, more impor- tant that Canada recognizes that it can't go forward in a meaningful way until it address- es or redresses those harms," Gray says. "We've got a growing recognition in Can- ada that our blighted history, in this regard, needs to be addressed — and that if it isn't, that this will be a continuing blight. But, more importantly, it will cause continuing societal stress. If we don't address it, it's going to cause a country that believes itself to be just and fair and believes itself to be a great place to live, which is going to cause us to continue to deteriorate both in the eyes of the world and then within our own capacity to care for ourselves." The Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres was established in 1971 and has grown to 11 centres throughout the province. Friendship Centres were developed begin- ning in the mid 1950s to provide referral ser- vices to Indigenous populations transitioning to urban centres from reservations, Métis communities, rural and remote areas. Today, the Manitoba association is part of a national network of 118 Friendship Centres and pro- vides community services such as childcare, employment, justice and addictions services, and Head Start programs. "We have an incredible resource in the Friendship Centres. Both on National Indig- enous People's Day on June 21 and on Sept. 30, we'll have events that celebrate parts of Indigenous culture and also bring informa- tion to people, if they want it," says Gray. "I think the problem isn't that the informa- tion isn't available. The problem has been that some groups or some portion of society hasn't wanted the information or hasn't been willing to accept that the information provid- ed is the truth. It's a mirror that's uncomfort- able, and that's the bigger problem." The road to reconciliation begins with steps toward understanding, explains Gray. With endless information at our fingertips, access to articles, books, videos and even the complete TRC report and its Calls to Action are only a click away. Gray says Manitobans are particularly fortunate to have access to the National Centre for Truth and Reconcili- ation, the permanent home of all statements, documents and other materials gathered by the TRC, located at the University of Mani- toba in Winnipeg. Its library and collections, as well as its National Student Memorial Register, provide the foundation for ongoing learning and research. The NCTR offered a week's worth of free educational resources for students in grades 1 through 12 for Truth and Reconciliation Week from Sept. 26 to 30 via their website. The National Day for Truth and Reconcili- ation also coincides with Orange Shirt Day, a grassroots movement established in 2013 that encourages people to wear orange to represent the stripping away of culture, free- dom and self-esteem experienced by residen- tial school students. Orange Shirt Day seeks to promote the awareness that Every Child Matters and to honour and recognize all those who were and continue to be affected by the trauma inflicted upon them. Events taking place to mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation include illumi- nating buildings across Canada in orange from Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. to sunrise Oct. 1. This will include federal buildings such as the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. A one- hour national commemorative gathering will be broadcast live from Ottawa's LeBreton Flats on Sept. 30, 2022, called Remembering the Children. The rally will be streamed live on all APTN channels beginning at 1 p.m. ET (noon in Manitoba) and streamed at APTN lumi from Oct. 2 to 10. You can also show your solidarity on Sept. 30 by reading or listening to Survivors' sto- ries; wearing orange; researching the First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities in your region and learning the contributions they have made to your community; learning the land acknowledgment in your region or de- veloping one in consultation with Indigenous communities; and by supporting Indigenous- owned businesses. You can also contact your local Friendship Centre to find out what events may be taking place in or near your community. A day of remembrance, REFLECTION, ACTION AND LEARNING David Gray, president of the Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres. PHOTO BY DARCY FINLEY We've got a growing recognition in Canada that our blighted history, in this regard, needs to be addressed — and that if it isn't, that this will be a continuing blight." David Gray, —president of the Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres

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