City Bus Wrapped In Orange In Smudging Ceremony For National Day of Truth And Reconciliation

A city bus is on board for the “Every Child Matters” movement as it was wrapped in orange during a smudging ceremony to raise awareness of residential schools and encourage Indigenous reconciliation on Thursday.

Crystal Scrimshaw (pictured) was one of three people that brought the idea of the bus design to council. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

City council quickly approved the motion on Monday to have the bus covered in orange and the “Every Child Matters” wrap on it. The idea was brought forth by Crystal Scrimshaw, Kelli Marshal and Pam Goldsworthy.

Curve Lake Chief Emily Whetung, Mayor Diane Therrien, Coun. Stephen Wright and several other Indigenous supporters and representatives were in attendance.

“The most important thing is raising awareness and making sure the people know the true history of Canada so that they can learn and know what happened and make a choice to make it better,” said Chief Whetung.

“The circumstances behind it are obviously tragic but I think this is a beautiful artistic way to honour those children and to raise awareness about the fact that there’s going to be more children found,” said Therrien. “Hopefully it will educate Canadians more about the reality of residential schools and intergenerational trauma and impact its had on families.”

The bus circuited from town hall, down George Street and circled back around Water Street as a ceremonial lap. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The smudging ceremony was performed by Whetung’s father, Lorenzo Whetung. He purified the bus by waving burnt sage in an abalone shell with a feather.

The shell with the sage symbolizes a woman carrying life similar to the bus carrying and protecting people Lorenzo tells PTBOCanada.

(left to right) Coun. Stephen WriGht, Chief Emily Whetung, Mayor Diane Therrien, Crystal Scrimshaw and Pam Goldsworthy after the bus was cleansed from the smudging ceremony. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The orange wrap will remain on the bus for at least six months and then will be reevaluated for normal wear and tear after the winter.

“I think every time people are going to see this bus and that’s how you start learning and that’s what’s going to drive conversation,” explained Chief Whetung. “That’s what’s going to drive change.”

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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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Peterborough Museum Exhibit Highlights Inuit Role in Search for the Franklin Exhibition

A new exhibit, The Ones We Met – Inuit Traditional Knowledge and the Franklin Expedition, will occupy the Peterborough Museum & Archives for three months announced on Monday.

Photo courtesy of the City of Peterborough.

The exhibition features photographs, illustrations and an animated map of routes charted by Europeans looking for a Northwest Passage in the 350 years before Franklin’s expedition.

The Franklin Expedition was a voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed from England in 1845 aboard two ships, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

Visitors can hear stories of Inuit encounters with Franklin and his men and of Martin Frobisher’s voyages to Baffin Island in the 1570s.

The expedition ended in disaster after both ships and their crews, a total of 128 officers and men, became icebound in what is now Nunavut.

“This exhibit is a great opportunity for visitors to learn about an important perspective surrounding the account of the Franklin Expedition. From the time HMS Erebus and Terror got trapped in the icy north, Inuit have been a part of the story. When that chapter came to a close, they continued to share their experience to younger generations, of the crewmen they met, and of ships stuck in ice,” said Dustin McIlwain, Peterborough Museum and Archives Community Engagement Coordinator.

Presented in Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English and French — the four official languages of Nunavut — the travelling exhibition will be on display at the Peterborough Museum & Archives from Sept. 18 to Dec. 5.

“This tradition of sharing oral histories was a key component to the discovery of these wrecks. To this day, the Inuit continue their key role in sharing this story, as well as the preservation of this historical site. The narrative will continue to evolve with time, as we embrace the concept of storytelling as a way to keep our history alive,” said McIlwain.

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New Canadian Canoe Museum to Feature Languages and Voices from Indigenous Communities

Visitors to the new Canadian Canoe Museum (CCM) will see and hear languages and voices from Indigenous communities the moment they step into the museum.

Kokomis Tchiman, a 26-foot long birchbark canoe built by Marcel Labelle, Métis elder and canoe-builder from the Mattawa Ontario region, sits on display in the Canadian Canoe Museum’s collection storage centre. Photo by Fusionriver Photography.

The new home for the CCM, set to break ground this fall and open in 2023, will feature a 17,000 square foot exhibition gallery that will share the history and enduring relevance of the canoe and kayak.

With a significant gift of $500,000 over five years from TD the Museum will work directly with individuals in eight Indigenous communities. The funding also enables the CCM to hire an emerging Indigenous museum professional.

These actions will help ensure that knowledges, perspectives and voices from Indigenous communities are directly represented in the exhibitions and educational programming.

“The CCM has a deep commitment to collaborative relations with the Indigenous communities of origin across Turtle Island (Canada) for the watercraft in the Museum’s collection,” said curator Jeremy Ward.

Building outwards from relations with Curve Lake, Hiawatha, Alderville and Scugog ­– local Michi Saagig First Nations on whose territory the CCM resides ­– the Museum will work with Inuit communities in northern Labrador and Nunavik, Mi’kmaq in the east and the Haida Gwaii Museum in the west.

In each community, the Museum’s team will gather knowledge about canoes and kayaks, their roles in resource harvesting, changes caused by settlement, and the resurgence of Indigenous watercraft-making and use as part of community healing.

“All work supports languages from Indigenous communities, whether by recording vocabulary about canoes in Anishnaabemowin, interviews conducted by fluent Haida speakers with language learners, or translating conversations from Michif or Inuktitut, ensuring Indigenous People can speak their truths in their own language and voice,” said Ward.

The Michi Saagig dialect of Anishnaabemowin will be used throughout the Museum and within its exhibits alongside English and French, and other languages from Indigenous communities will feature in relation to specific watercraft.

Funding for the CCM’s Indigenous Languages Program marks the largest investment made to date by TD Bank Group through TD Ready Commitment program in the Peterborough region.

For more information about the new museum or the CCM’s collaborative relations work with Indigenous communities visit canoemuseum.ca/collaborative-relations.

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Fleming Congratulates Students That Completed their Indigenous Perspectives Designation

Fleming College along with members of the Indigenous community hosted a special event to recognize students who completed an Indigenous Perspectives Designation (IPD) on July 9.

Aerial shot of Fleming Sutherland Campus. Photo Courtesy of Fleming College.

The IPD gives students the chance to learn about Indigenous perspectives, peoples, cultures, histories, traditions and contributions to our shared society. To graduate with an IPD it is required that they take discipline-specific Indigenous curriculum in each semester, beyond what is already required in the two mandatory Indigenous Studies courses, as well as experiential Indigenous activities.

“Very proud of the IPD graduates and faculty who work hard each year to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy into their learning,” said Elizabeteh Stone, Academic Chair for Indigenous Studies at Fleming. “This is reconcili-action! As described by the Downie Wenjack Foundation: ‘A ReconciliACTION is a meaningful action that moves reconciliation forward. ReconciliACTIONs aim to bring Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together in the spirit of reconciliation to create awareness, share and learn.’ Nishin Graduates.”

The IPD is available to students enrolled in certain programs. For more information click here.

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Local Peterborough Businesses Donate Canada Day Sales For Indigenous Issues

Peterborough businesses have donated proceeds during Canada Day and the following weekend in support of Indigenous causes.

Mohawk children cheering for Team Haudenosaunee at the 2019 World U19 Women's Field Lacrosse Championships at Justin Chiu Stadium at Trent University in Peterborough. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The Planet, Silver Bean Café, KitCoffee, The Night Kitchen, Le Petit Bar and St. Veronus were participating restaurants that have donated a portion of their earnings made on Canada Day or the following weekend.

The inspiration came after the trending hashtag #CancelCanadaDay surfaced as a part of truth and reconciliation for Indigenous people. Community members would not celebrate the country’s anniversary and reflected Canada’s involvement of Residental Schools’ treatment towards Indigenous people until the 1980’s.

The Planet and Silver Bean Café have donated 25 per cent of their Canada Day proceeds to Legacy of Hope Foundation; an Indigenous charity to educate and create awareness and understanding about the Residental School System according to their website.

“The recent news of more mass graves being discovered at residential schools is so upsetting,” said The Planet on a Facebook post. “We can't change the past but we can work towards a better future.”

Mohawk children ran across the stands flying the Six Nations flag after every Team Haudenosaunee goal. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

KitCoffee is donating all its Canada Day profits to the Indian Residential School Survivor Society (IRSSS); an organization that provides services to Indian Residental School Survivors.

Le Petit Bar and St. Veronus are donating 15 percent of all their weekend sales towards IRSSS. In addition to them, The Night Kitchen donated all their Tuesday proceeds to Mnoominkewin festival held in Curve Lake during the month of September.

Donations to Legacy of Hope Foundation and IRSSS can be made on their official websites.

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