On September 30th, the first annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the Cathexis team honours the lost First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children and survivors of residential schools, their families, and communities.
As settlers in treaty lands, we recognize our responsibility to deepen our understanding of this land, honour relations with Indigenous nations, and work to dismantle the settler-colonial structures that continue to oppress Indigenous people. In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #92, we are working to understand the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and incorporate it into our evaluation planning and implementation.
Here are three resources we’ve found helpful over the past year to advance this work:
1. 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, by Bob Joseph
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- This is a good starting point for learning about The Indian Act, a set of colonial laws that segregate and oppress Indigenous nations.
2. Awakenings ― We Were Always Here ― Acknowledgment, a film by Jonathan Elliott
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- This short film explores the history of Indigenous peoples in Tkaronto, “the place in the water where the trees are standing” and poses challenging questions about what land acknowledgements truly mean.
3. Five Little Indians, a novel by Michelle Good
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- This award-winning book tells the story of five children who were taken away from their families to a Canadian residential school, following their journeys as they grow up and cope with the trauma of their experiences.
We call on the Canadian government to fulfill the 94 Calls to Action and end its ongoing litigation against First Nations children and families impacted by discriminatory social services.