Reconciliation and residential schools: some links

Hello everyone: It was an honour to participate in the conference. I am posting at Dittmar’s suggestion a couple of links related to TRC hearings and residential schools. Apologies ahead of time for the length of the post.

If  you go to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s main page, you will find information about the latest hearings in Calgary (November 4th and 5th) and the final national event in Edmonton in late March. Search the site for resources, information and their interim report. To watch the hearings, go to their livestream (http://www.livestream.com/trc_cvr). You can also scroll back (below the main window, even when it is offline) to see past hearings. Do look at some of the BC National event (BCNE) from September in Vancouver. I am happy to recommend particular sections I pointed out to my students. Further back in June and July, you can find the regional hearings from Red Deer, Hobbema, High Level, and others.

You can also find online a number of talks by the TRC commissioners. Like Sylvia’s and Janice’s talks, they are informative and eye-opening. Justice Murray Sinclair speaks eloquently, as does Commissioner Willie Littlechild (who of course is local from Ermineskin: he went to that residential school for many years). For good information, well-presented, on the history and legacy of residential schools, go to Legacy of Hope and, in particular, Where Are the Children?.

I also suggest a book published by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, which itself has a wealth of resources. The anthology Speaking My Truth: Reflections on Reconciliation and Residential School, based on a trilogy of books on the same topic, is being used as a common reading text in some colleges and universities. Students in my classes are organizing the Calgary launch of the book in conjunction with the Calgary TRC hearings. The book or the trilogy can be downloaded or ordered in print for free from the AHF in any quantity from speakingmytruth.ca. The AHF can also be contacted to help fund travel for the contributors and editors of the book through the same website.

Finally two unrelated links that we suggested at our table during the conference. Sharron Proulx suggested that people looking for an accessible TV alternative news source go to Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. I  suggested the website project of a Cree Métis artist/singer/songwriter, Cheryl l’Hirondelle, called treatycard, in which she invites all settlers to print and carry our own treaty cards. We are all treaty people.