Reconciliation

• AKWESASNE, Sept. 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The employees and Board of Directors of The Seaway International Bridge Corporation Ltd (SIBC) are proud to announce the unveiling of a remarkable mural on the historical northern pier at the Seaway International Bridge, created by Akwesasne artist, Kirby Thompson.
• Born in Akwesasne, Kirby Thompson, aged 23, is a freelance mural artist.
• Her artworks embellish the walls of SUNY Potsdam University, the SIBC’s administration building in Kawehno:ke (Cornwall Island), Akwesasne, and the historical pier at the Three Nations Bridge Crossing that connects Canada, Akwesasne, and the United States.
• Since the construction of the Seaway International Bridge, members of the Akwesasne community as employees of SIBC have been its stewards.

• All net proceeds from sales of the Truth and Reconciliation Keepsake are being donated to the Na-mi-quai-ni-mak Community Support Fund, established by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.
• Honouring the Survivors and the children who never returned home, the Truth and Reconciliation Keepsake raises awareness about the intergenerational impacts of Residential, Day and Boarding schools.
• "The Truth and Reconciliation Keepsake helps us acknowledge the truth of the Indigenous children who never returned from Residential, Day and Boarding schools," said Royal Canadian Mint President and CEO, Marie Lemay.
• All net proceeds from the sale of the Truth and Reconciliation Keepsake will support the work of Na-mi-quai-ni-mak Community Support Fund, established by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

• In Canada, when we talk about truth and reconciliation we have a tendency to focus on the Indian residential school system (IRS).
• While engaging with knowledge about residential schools and their legacies is an important facet of truth and reconciliation, there are other colonial school systems that we also need to acknowledge, consider and remember.

Multiple colonial schooling models

The Canadian government initiated and implemented multiple colonial schooling models for over a century and a half beyond the IRS, such as:
Where one system failed, the government designed a new school system based on the failure of the previous school model to try and assimilate Indigenous children.

Survivors from many school models

• Murray Sinclair, former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) said, “The Survivors need to know before they leave this Earth that people understand what happened and what the schools did to them.” As a society, it is important that we remember Survivors from each school model and their many impacts on Survivors, their descendants and society as a whole.
• People need to know and understand the truth about what happened to Survivors and why this happened to them in order to heal and walk the path of reconciliation.

Addressing gaps in knowledge

• (also known as Akaisamitohkanao’pa, or gathering place) approached me to be a guest curator and create a traveling museum exhibit based on my TRC research, I decided to use the opportunity to rectify the gap of knowledge so many of us have about educational policy.
• It presents photographs and stories from Survivors, the Canadian government, the Christian religions and their missionaries, the Indian Agents and Indian school inspectors.

Right to know the truth

• fully adopt and implement the … United Nations Joinet-Orentlicher Principles, as related to Aboriginal peoples’ inalienable right to know the truth about what happened and why,” and “iii.)
• fully adopt and implement the … United Nations Joinet-Orentlicher Principles, as related to Aboriginal peoples’ inalienable right to know the truth about what happened and why,” and “iii.)

Multiple Christian churches

• The exhibit introduces the different Christian churches who created missions on the Blood Reserve, and shows Survivor experiences of missions’ different characteristics.
• For example, as Survivor Jim Young Pine shares about attending St. Mary’s School:
  “The nuns at the school were French and always spoke French.
• It was while working outside Kainaisskahoyi that I learned English from non-Natives.”
  “The nuns at the school were French and always spoke French.
• Churches opened several of the different schools the Canadian government devised to try and assimilate Indigenous children.

Stories from Survivors of institutions

• The stories are also a testament to the survival of the Blood People.
• We continue today to practice and live our ways of knowing, being and doing as Siksikaitsitapi.
• The exhibit concludes on a note of hope by highlighting the resiliency of the Kainai People.

Maintaining our identities as Siksikaitsitapi

• Today, the Blood Tribe runs its own education programs from early childhood education to post-secondary education.
• Kainai Board of Education operates five schools (Saipoyi Community School, Aahsaopi Elementary School, Tatsikiisaapo’p Middle School, Kainai High School and Kainai Alternate Academy).
• The Blood Reserve has worked hard to create education that works towards maintaining our identities as Siksikaitsitapi.

Education as ‘new buffalo’

• To many Indigenous Peoples across plains regions in Canada, education has become the “new buffalo.” This means just as the buffalo once sustained us for our needs, Indigenous Peoples are adapting education to meet our needs today.
• To observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and all year,
  let us be reminded of Survivors’ voices from the past century and a half, and as Sinclair said, re-commit our reconciliation efforts to “act to ensure the repair of damages done.”
  As the former TRC chair also said, until people show they have learned from this, we will never forget.

• TORONTO, Sept. 21, 2023 /CNW/ - Today TD Bank Group ("TD" or the "Bank") released its TD and Indigenous Communities in Canada – 2023 Report , outlining the Bank's commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action and sharing its approach to supporting the social and economic inclusion and equity of Indigenous Peoples.
• "At TD, we know reconciliation is multifaceted and continuous, for each of us as individuals and collectively as a Bank," said Doris Bear, Vice President of Indigenous Banking at TD Bank Group.
• The TD and Indigenous Communities in Canada – 2023 Report summarizes TD's collaborations with and support for First Nation, Métis, and Inuit people and communities between 2020 and early 2023.
• In 2023, the Bank announced the first cohort of 25 recipients of the TD Scholarship for Indigenous Peoples.