Today, September 30, is the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. As a settler organization, staff at Women’s Shelters Canada have decided to not take the federal holiday as a day off work, but rather actively spend a good portion of the day engaging with resources related to residential schools and reconciliation.
As we did last year, we will also:
- Reflect on how to be a better ally to Indigenous communities
- Recommit to helping end the ongoing violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people
- Resolve to continue calling attention to the ongoing tragedy of missing & murdered Indigenous women & girls
We encourage our community of shelters/transition houses and supporters to do the same. Check out our social media (@endvawnetwork) throughout the day as we share postings from Indigenous organizations and activists.
Want to directly support the work of Indigenous organizations working to end gender-based violence today? Check out our sister shelter organization, the National Aboriginal Circle Against Family Violence (NACAFV). You can donate to them online.
Looking for resources? Below are a few examples of things WSC staff will be engaging with today. Additional resources can be found on the Canadian Women’s Foundation website:
In-Person Gathering in Ottawa
In partnership with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, APTN will be holding a special one-hour commemorative gathering at LeBreton Flats Park in Ottawa, which will air simultaneously across all APTN channels, at 1 pm EST.
Listen
- CharityVillage Connects: Indigenous Leaders Discuss Truth and Reconciliation in the Nonprofit Sector – Podcast episode centering the unique perspectives of Indigenous leaders across the country on what September 30 means to them.
- Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo (CBC podcasts)—Podcast about the disappearance of Cleo, a young Cree girl believed to have been abused and murdered after being taken from her family in the 1970s and adopted in the US.
- Alright, Now What?: Girls, Rape Culture and Colonialism (CWF podcast) – Podcast episode dedicated to the discussion of rape culture and its nuanced impact on girls and non-binary youth.
Read
- Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga—Book that follows the deaths of seven Indigenous high school students over the span of eleven years in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
- Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story by David Alexander Robertson—Book about a young girl’s experience, and resilience, at a residential school.
- This Place: 150 Years Retold by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm and Sonny Assu – Graphic anthology novel that centers Indigenous creators over the span of the last 150 years.
- Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton— The empowering story of a young girl who stands up to the cruelty of a nun at a residential school.
- The Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad– Short story about the origins of Orange Shirt Day.
- I Am Not a Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer—Short story about a young girl and her experiences at a residential school.
Watch
- We Were Children by Tim Wolochatiuk—Documentary film about the impact of the residential school system, as shown through the eyes of two children.
- CBC Short: My Auntie survived residential school. I need to gather her stories before she’s gone by Sarain Fox – Short documentary about a woman determined to preserve the history of her family against a global pandemic threatening to erase it.
- Angry Inuk by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril—Documentary defending the Inuit seal hunt.
