The FSA Commemorates the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
September 28, 2023
September 30, 2023, is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR), which honours the victims of residential and day schools, their families, and communities. The schools operated on this land between 1831 and 1996, part of a broader project of nation building that experts in Canadian History now recognize as genocide.
All week, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) has held educational events to recognize the NDTR, which FSA President Colin Jones has been attending. Colin writes that:
It has been my privilege to attend Lunch and Learns this week, put on by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Residential Schools are not at all what we likely envision when we use the word “school.” These were institutions designed to assimilate Indigenous children into a “Canadian way of life” by prescriptive and controlling rules and practices. Confirming the remains of 215 children in 2021 by the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation brought the tragic realities of Residential Schools to the forefront in Canada and around the world. Above all, I’m reminded how much more I have to learn. As you make time to honour and acknowledge the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation this weekend, I offer the YouTube recordings of these 5 sessions as options to thoughtfully consider.
The FSA believes that to realize our core values of integrity, solidarity, empowerment, and equity, we need to foster working and learning environments that encourage people to reach their full potential and that this involves removing impediments to social, cultural, and economic development that continue to harm our Indigenous comrades. To this end, we have given a donation to the Truth and Reconciliation Fund at the NCTR.