Trent University Honours Local Michi Saagiig on National Truth and Reconciliation Day

To mark the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Trent University unveiled new installations paying tribute to the Michi Saagiig Anishnaabeg, on Thursday.

Treaty Rock unveiling on Thursday. Photo courtesy of Trent University.

The tribute highlights the importance of the original treaties pertaining to the land upon which the two campuses are built and honouring the original signatories of the Michi Saagiig Anishnaabeg.

“For more than 50 years, Trent has been committed to providing education in Indigenous history, traditions, cultures, and Indigenous knowledges for students and the broader community,” said Julie Davis, Trent University vice-president of External Relations and Development. “As we honour Truth and Reconciliation Day, recognizing the local treaties and the Michi Saagiig people is foundational.”

On the Peterborough campus outside of Bata Library, the University unveiled three limestone boulders bearing the symbols of the dodem (clan totems) carvings of the Treaty 20 Michi Saagiig signatories as well as a statement identifying the Symons Campus lands as being situated on Michi Saagiig traditional territory.

At Trent University Durham GTA, a new Treaty Wall has been installed in the front atrium of the campus featuring original signatory documents and a pre-confederation treaty map.

“Curve Lake First Nation and Trent University have a gold-standard relationship,” said Chief Emily Whetung of Curve Lake First Nation. “Trent University prioritizes hearing the teachings of our Elders and Traditional Knowledge Keepers and ensuring the teachings are respected. We are very pleased to see these installations, developed in a true partnership, come to life. The meaningful acknowledgment of our ancestral lands and the treaty in which Trent University is situated will raise awareness in all who pass through Trent University.”

The University has created a new webpage to advance the goals of education, reflection and action, and is sharing ways our communities can engage meaningfully in reconciliation and honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The webpage highlights important resources like the 94 Calls to Action, testimonies of residential school survivors and a list of local Indigenous businesses.

“Here at Trent, on this very important day, as we come together to remember and honour all those who were forced into the Indian residential schools, we are committing ourselves as an institution to engage in the process of reconciliation,” said Dr. Dawn Lavell-Harvard, Trent University director of the First Peoples House of Learning, on Thursday. “As a small but important first step we must acknowledge the truth of our shared history and these installations were designed to educate all those who study, work, or visit our campuses. We give these places of honour to the Michi Saagiig Anishnaabeg, the original signatories of Treaty 20 and Williams Treaty, as a sign of respect and our commitment to do better and to work together in true partnership as the original treaties intended.”

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Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre Hosts Truth and Reconciliation Day Sacred Fire

The Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre (NFC) invited the community to join them in a sacred fire and book reading to honour National Truth and Reconciliation Day on Thursday.

The Lovesick Lake Native Women’s Association offers and Aboriginal Prenatal Nutrition Program, a Program for Children, and Long Term Care. Photo by Angela O’Grady.

This marked the first official National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.

In association with Niijkiwendidaa Anishnaabekwewag Services Circle and Lovesick Lake Native Women's Association, Phyllis Webstad’s book ‘Orange Shirt Day’ was read around a sacred fire in the NFC wigwam while individuals made tobacco offerings.

“This isn’t a holiday. It’s a day of remembrance and a day of learning,” said Rebekah Rego, NFC Community Wellness Worker. “Learn about not just the past but about the 94 Calls to Action, understanding what that means, then move forward with that knowledge and use it every day.”

The Calls To Action were released in 2015 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). They are meant to address the ongoing impact of residential schools on survivors and their families and to advance the process of reconciliation in Canada.

As of Sept. 30, 2021, only 14 of the 94 Calls to Action have been completed.

“That just shows you how long this will take,” said Kim Lamothe, NFC Cultural Resource Coordinator. “Reconciliation is a work in progress and it might take years.”

Lamothe says that Truth and Reconciliation Day is about getting people to educate themselves on the history of Canada and Indigenous people.

“We need to work together because we walk this path together and we live on this earth together,” said Lamothe. ”Elders and survivors and families are telling those stories and we need to listen, and know that they’re telling the truth.”

Visitors were invited to write on canvas leaves and add them to the canvas. Photo by Angela O’Grady.

At the Truth and Reconciliation Day event at NFC visitors were invited to sign a canvas in commemoration of Indigenous relatives or community members.

The canvas will also be presented at the NFC on Oct. 4, the National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

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Mayor Diane Therrien Issues Statement Regarding National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

With Canada celebrating National Day for Truth and Reconciliation for the first time following the discovery of buried childrens’ bodies at residential schools earlier this year, Mayor Diane Therrien has issued a statement regarding the day’s observance in its inaugural year.

File Photo.

This year the Federal Government announced September 30th to be National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The last several years saw September 30th become “Orange Shirt Day”, so named based on the experience of residential school survivor Phyllis (Jack) Webstad. Upon her arrival at the Mission School, she was stripped of her orange shirt and made to wear a uniform.

Orange Shirt Day became a national movement, a day to remember and reflect on the horrific treatment of Indigenous children at residential schools across Canada.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Reports consolidated the experiences of survivors and included 94 Calls to Action, covering a range of topics, and includes an entire section on “Missing Children and Burial Information”.

The staggering death rates of Indigenous children at residential schools, and the callous disregard for their bodies has been known in Indigenous communities for generations. Parents were often given no information about why their children didn’t return home.

With the discovery of 215 children’s bodies in unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Residential School, the reality of Canada’s horrific past became a national discussion.

Additional bodies have been found since May and will continue to be found as communities conduct ground penetrating radar searches to find their children and bring them home.

It is incumbent upon all of us to contribute to the truth, reconciliation, and healing process. There are numerous resources online to help you understand the true history of this country. As has often been said, we cannot have reconciliation without first having truth. It will be uncomfortable. Imagine how uncomfortable it was for the children taken from their families, their home, their lands, and forced to assimilate to Euro-Christian ways of living.

Imagine it was your children, your grandchildren, your nieces, and nephews. Taken by force (parents who fought to keep their children were arrested or threatened with arrest by the RCMP), to institutions that were designed to strip them of their language, culture, and ties to land and family.

John A Macdonald said “that Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men”. Imagine that happening to your family.

Read, at the very least, the Executive Summary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the 94 Calls to Action.

Read the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Read the Ipperwash Inquiry.

Read the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Support Indigenous people and communities. Not just on September 30th, but year-round. Attend events organized by Indigenous communities and organizations.

You are on Treaty Land. That comes with rights and responsibilities on both sides. Learn about the Williams Treaty (or the Treaty that covers the area you live). Do as much research as you can. Follow Indigenous scholars, artists, lawyers, activists on social media. Read their posts. Donate to them and Indigenous organizations if you can.

The City of Peterborough has raised the Every Child Matters flag alongside the City flag, which has been at half mast since the discovery of the first 215 children. The City commits to Call to Action #57, “to provide education to our public servants on the history of Aboriginal peoples, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties, and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal-Crown relations [through] skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.”

The City, and I as Mayor, will continue to work with partners at Curve Lake First Nation, Hiawatha First Nation, Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre, and the urban Indigenous communities to chart a good path forward. We will remember these children, their families, and their communities, and we will honour them.

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