Truth & Reconciliation / the Kamloops residential school children burial site discovery / the question “What can I / we do?” …our collaborative responsibility, for many of us, as descendants of settlers, as canadians.
How can your nonprofit be an agent of positive change in addressing the wrongs historically and currently perpetrated on Indigenous people? By taking action. Here are some perspectives and recommendations for your next Board and/or staff meeting:
Speak up and participate in ways recommended by indigenous peoples and groups such as the IRSSS, Indian Residential School Survivors Society . Yes, stating land acknowledgments at the start of meetings is important. However, we must do more. Nonprofits can advocate by participating in the call to the Canadian federal government and the Catholic Church, to take action following the discovery of the remains of 215 children buried on the Kamloops Indian Residential School grounds. This is most probably the start of a long list of these horrific discoveries. Letter submission is a start. These are crime scenes. Our vocabulary must reflect this, and our actions must treat them as such, as is being stated by Indigenous leaders.
Many nonprofit organizations are serving individuals with personal or family lived experience with the trauma of residential schools. Ensure your agency is operating from a trauma-informed platform. Familiarize yourself, and ensure your not for profit or charity is working from the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) documents/recommendations:
- The core document: pdf (trc.ca)
- Links to the TRC “How Can I Help?” page http://www.trc.ca/events-and-projects/how-can-i-help.html This page includes email links and phone numbers to share your knowledge and questions about children who attended residential school and never returned home or whose fate is unknown, a child who died in residential school, burial sites where residential schools students may be buried and more.
- Explore Circles for Reconciliation . Is this something your nonprofit can do or participate in?
- Actively participate in the creation of monuments called for by Indigenous people. Example: Grandmothers Call for a Monument to Honour MMIWG (Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women & Girls)
- Promote the use of the National Residential School Crisis Line, available for Survivors and those who need it: 1-866-925-4419 . This is a service of the National Centre for Truth & Reconciliation, a key source of information, resources and contacts.
The cry for action echoes across Canada. It is deep, guttural, screeching… louder than our Anthem. We must act.
Gisele Guenard, CEO, VisionarEase & associates
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