Calls To Action: 2023 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation + Orange Shirt Day
In advance of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day on September 30th, we wanted to share a few ideas to help deepen our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation and continue to advocate for and advance this critical work.
Moving beyond wearing orange, here are a few ways to activate.
Read the Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was created with the mandate to inform all Canadians about what happened in residential schools. The TRC carried out extensive research, including hearing from Residential Survivors, their families, members of their communities, former staff of residential schools, and others. Their final report was released in 2015, and includes Ten Principles for Reconciliation and 94 Calls to Action that speak to all sectors of Canadian society.
Read the Calls to Action in the White Goose Flying Report
Written in 2016 by the Calgary Aboriginal Urban Advisory Committee, the White Goose Flying Report sorted the 94 Truth and Reconciliation calls-to-action into 43 calls-to-action that The City can directly implement or support the implementation of. The report is named after an Indian Residential School student who died while attending St. Dunstan’s Indian Industrial School; his name was Jack White Goose Flying.
Donate funds or time to a local Indigenous organization
There are many important organizations doing meaningful work for the Indigenous community in Calgary and Alberta. If you have the means, monetary donations or volunteering your time can go a long way toward ensuring they can continue to achieve and grow their mandates.
Here are just some of the organizations worth considering:
Indigenous Gathering Place - A registered society formed in direct response to the call for a reconciled Canada, supporting the pursuit of a physical Indigenous gathering space within the City of Calgary.
Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY) - Providing essential programming and services to Calgary's Indigenous youth.
Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary - Providing Indigenous cultural connection through programs and services for the urban community as well as access to resources that address the social and economic realities of urban Indigenous people.
CIF Reconciliation Society - An Indigenous-led non-profit organization, dedicated to honouring the children of the past, the present & future generations.
Elizabeth Fry Society Indigenous Cultural Supports - offering a hand up to women and youth engaged with the legal and justice systems. EFS offers culturally aligned support to Indigenous women that helps address intergenerational trauma, nurtures reconnection to Indigenous culture, and encourages healing.
Native Counselling Service of Alberta - NCSA promotes the resilience of the Indigenous individual and family, through programs and services that are grounded in reclaiming interconnectedness, reconciliation of relationships, and self-determination.
Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society - An Indigenous-led, settler-supported arts and culture organization promoting healing by transferring knowledge and culture through the arts.
Cousins Skateboard Community - a group of friends and allies who want to see skateboarding used to empower youth within indigenous communities.
Commit to learning more about Truth and Reconciliation over the next year.
Take some time to reflect on what you’ve learned about Truth and Reconciliation this past year, and share it with people you care about. Then set a goal to learn more over the coming year.
The University of Alberta offers a free online course through the Faculty of Native Studies called Indigenous Canada. This 12-lesson Open Online Course explores the different histories and contemporary perspectives of Indigenous peoples living in Canada. From an Indigenous perspective, the course explores complex experiences Indigenous peoples face today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations.all are welcome to take and learn at your own pace.
All are welcome to register and work at your own pace.