National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, on Sept. 30, honours the children who never returned home, survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. 快播视频 will recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation by offering events and resources throughout the month for its community members to learn about the history of residential schools in Canada and the lasting impacts on Indigenous community members today.

This year, the York community is encouraged to reflect and learn through the theme 鈥淓ngaging in a Reconciliation Journey: Learning Through Various Forms of Media.鈥� A selection of Indigenous films will be available for viewing online and at a series of in-person film screenings being hosted at both the Keele and Glendon campuses from Monday, Sept. 18 to Wednesday, Sept. 27. 

Film screenings will close with a hybrid community panel event featuring the voices of staff reflecting on their learning journey, on Thursday, Sept. 28. Full event details below, as well as information about Orange Shirt Day. 

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Film Screenings聽

Dates: Monday, Sept. 18 to Wednesday, Sept. 27 

There will be seven film screenings open to community members in several locations on the Keele and Glendon campuses. Visit

These events are in-person only; however, all films are available online through the University Libraries鈥� collection or are publicly available and can be accessedhere.鈥疶he list of films include: 

Stolen Children: Truth and Reconciliation 
Date: Monday, Sept. 18  
Time: 9:30 a.m.  
Location: Sound & Moving Image Library, Scott Library  

We Were Children  
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 19 
Time: 2 p.m.  
Location: Paul Delaney Gallery, 320 Bethune College

My Auntie Survived Residential School
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 20  
Time: 1 p.m.  
Location: Sound & Moving Image Library, Scott Library  

Indian Horse 
Date: Thursday, Sept. 21  
Time: 3 p.m.  
Location: A100 York Hall, Glendon Campus 

Honour to Murray Sinclair & Second Stories: It Had to be Done 
Date: Monday, Sept. 25  
Time: 1 p.m.  
Location: TBD 

Muffins for Granny
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 26 
Time: 1 p.m. 
Location: Junior Common Room, 012G Winters College 

Truth and Reconciliation: The Legacy of Residential Schools in Canada & Stolen Children: Residential School Survivors Speak Out 
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 27  
Time: 3 p.m.  
Location: Sound & Moving Image Library, Scott Library 

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at York聽

Date: Thursday, Sept. 28 
Time: 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: 1014 Helliwell Centre, Osgoode Hall Law School (followed by a visit to nearby Skennen鈥檏贸:wa Gamig)  

Format: Hybrid (in-person and YouTube live stream) 

RSVP:   

A hybrid event, National Day for Truth & Reconciliation at 快播视频 Speaker Reflections will be moderated by Susan Dion, associate vice-president, Indigenous initiatives,鈥痑nd feature the voices of staff reflecting on their learning journey through engaging in various forms of media.鈥�  

Participants will be offered a tobacco tie upon entering the panel event and will be invited to offer it to the ceremonial fire afterwards at Skennen鈥檏贸:wa Gamig. Light refreshments will be available after the event. The panel will be live-streamed online and recorded for all community members to participate remotely.

Orange Shirt Day聽

Official 2023 鈥淓very Child Matters鈥� orange T-shirts are available at the Orange Shirt Day is an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day intended to raise awareness of the individual, familial and communal intergenerational impacts of residential schools, and to promote the concept of 鈥淓very Child Matters.鈥�  

To learn more, including accessing resources, films, stories, Zoom backgrounds and event information, visit York鈥檚 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation website. 

Original article posted in the September 10, 2023 issue of

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On Sept. 29 and 30, the York community gathered to reflect on the legacy of Canada鈥檚 residential school system. The archives of the livestreamed events are now available to view. 

Friday, Sept. 30, marked the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (formerly Orange Shirt Day). The day honours the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. Two public events were organized at 快播视频 as part of the community鈥檚 efforts to engage with and reflect on the truths of residential schools and the impact of colonialism.

On Sept. 29, the first event featured a lecture by Professor Paulette Steeves, Canada Research Chair in Healing at Reconciliation at Algoma University. The archived broadcast of Steeves鈥� lecture, titled 鈥淩eclaiming and Rewriting Indigenous Histories of the Western Hemisphere (the Americas),鈥� can be viewed at . 

On Friday, Sept. 30, University community members met online for the panel discussion 鈥淩eflecting on the Legacies of Residential Schools: What it means for our present and our futures.鈥� The panel discussion was moderated by Associate Vice-President Indigenous Initiatives and Faculty of Education Professor Susan Dion, and can be viewed at .

For more information on these and other events, and for resources to support individual learning, visit York鈥檚 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation website. 

Article originally published in the September 30, 2022 issue of

The post National Day for Truth and Reconciliation events are now available to view online appeared first on Faculty of Education.

Original article published in the October 3, 2021 issue of

The panel focused on reconciliation in action and was the University鈥檚 keynote event leading into a full day of activities created for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day concluded with a symbolic evening illumination in orange light of the Ross Building on the Keele Campus and the Glendon Manor on the Glendon Campus.

More than 700 faculty, staff and students attended 快播视频鈥檚 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation virtual panel, 鈥淩eflections on Truth and Reconciliation,鈥� which took place Sept. 30.

Faculty of Education Professor Carl James, senior advisor on equity and representation and the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora, served as the panel moderator, which was presented by 快播视频 President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton and Vice-President of Equity, People & Culture Sheila Cote-Meek.

In her opening remarks Lenton spoke about the importance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in understanding and acknowledging Canada鈥檚 colonial practices, which had a devastating impact on Indigenous Peoples. She said that it was essential for universities across Canada to reflect on their role as part of a colonial system of education and their responsibility to advance Indigenous scholarship, knowledge mobilization and action that will help move the country towards reconciliation.

Cote-Meek, who is Anishinaabe from the Teme-Augama Anishnabai, spoke about her own experience with the intergenerational trauma that was the result of Canada鈥檚 Residential School System. 鈥淭his is an important day to Indigenous Peoples as well as all Canadians, settlers and visitors to this land,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hile this day marks an important step towards reconciliation, it is also a stark reminder to Indigenous Peoples of the many children who were forcibly removed from our communities and the resulting violence and trauma experienced in the Indian Residential School System.

鈥淭his past summer has been particularly difficult as unmarked graves of hundreds of children were located on various sites of residential schools across this country. Based on death records, more than 4,100 children died at residential schools,鈥� she said, noting that the true total is anticipated to be much higher.

Cote-Meek鈥檚 own grandfather was forced to attend the St. Peter Claver School for Boys in Spanish, Ontario. 鈥淗e survived but never spoke of his experiences there and it wasn鈥檛 until years after his death that I learned of his attendance. When I did, it answered so many unanswered questions for me that I did not understand about my own family.

鈥淚t is important that non-Indigenous people in Canada confront this history and understand the systems from which they benefit and begin to understand how we are all in relation to one another and the land. So today, we honour the victims, those who did not return home and we honour the survivors, including those who are descendants of survivors. We acknowledge your strength and resilience.鈥�

After Cote-Meek鈥檚 remarks, Zoey Roy, an Indigenous artist, spoken word poet and a PhD student in the Faculty of Education, presented an original spoken word poem before a two-minute period of silence prior to the start of the panel.

Participating in the panel were: Associate Vice-President Indigenous Initiatives and Faculty of Education Professor Susan Dion; Provost and Vice-President Academic Lisa Philipps; Sean Hillier, Indigenous Council Co-Chair and assistant professor and York Research Chair in Indigenous Health & One Health; Osgoode Hall Law School Dean Mary Condon; Randy Pitawanakwat, manager, Indigenous Student Services; and Stephen Teong, interim president, Glendon College Student Union.

Each panellist was asked to answer one of five questions: How/where do you see reconciliation in action? What have you learned from the conversations happening and/or not happening about reconciliation? What actions have you taken or want to take in service of reconciliation? How do you understand your responsibility to participate in accomplishing reconciliation? Reflecting on your position within the 快播视频 community, what do you hope a focus on reconciliation will accomplish?

Dion was the first to respond to the question: What have you learned from the conversations happening and/or not happening about reconciliation?

A Lenape and Potawatomi scholar with mixed Irish and French ancestry, Dion said that while she was encouraged by the interest in truth and reconciliation, she has persistent concerns. 鈥淲hat do Canadians her when we speak? I know that conversations are difficult. They require a rethinking of the story we tell ourselves about what it means to be Canadian. I find that the desire to make the conversations all about you and the feelings for us 鈥� feeling sorry for us or feeling bad for Indigenous Peoples and how much you want to help us, but I have to say that sometimes these conversations can be very frustrating and tiresome, even exasperating,鈥� she said.

In contrast, Dion said that her mother, who had been denied access to her language and cultural practices because of the intergenerational impact of her parents鈥� time in residential school, provided Dion and her siblings with what they needed to do the work of gathering, sharing and initiating conversations about being Indigenous. These conversations, said Dion, have focused on recuperating knowledge, participating in and learning from each other and the land. Important conversations, she said because they are about recognizing knowledge and story, cultural practice and ceremony.

鈥淥n this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, conversations about the impacts of residential schools have to happen. They have to happen respectfully and with purpose to learn how we are all implicated and how we are all responsible to ourselves and each other, and to all creation. We have to invest time and energy in learning from the stories,鈥� she said.

鈥淲hat Indigenous Peoples need are conversations that start with a turning toward and a willingness to accept responsibility to learn from Indigenous Peoples鈥� experiences and perspectives,鈥� Dion added.

Philipps, who in addition to being provost and vice-president academic at 快播视频, is a legal scholar and professor of law. She was asked to consider the question: How do you understand your responsibility to participate in accomplishing reconciliation?

鈥淢y responsibility is to continue my own personal education and learn about Indigenous histories in Canada. My own personal education began for me as a law professor at Osgoode and my own field of scholarship and teaching, which is tax law and policy,鈥� Philipps said. 鈥淎nd, about how there is a specific and interesting space carved out for First Nations and for those defined as qualifying under the Indian Act for particular types of tax treatment; the way that was expressed in case law and by judges hearing cases about that tax treatment; the kinds of assumptions and stereotypes and ideas about why that existed and what it meant.鈥�

Philipps probed deeper into what she was seeing and began to read and research the inequities. She then brought those observations into her courses, in rather tentative ways at first, she said, and then more robustly as her knowledge increased. She attended the Anishinaabe Law Camp that Osgoode Hall Law School initiated and learned from Indigenous Elders and scholars. 鈥淲hat I took away from that was understanding more deeply that Indigenous communities have their own legal orders. Historically and currently, those legal orders are very much rooted in the land,鈥� said Philipps.

She continues to pursue and deepen her knowledge through reading and conversations, listening and continuing education and brings that growing knowledge into her role as provost and vice-president academic. She is continuing to expand the numbers of Indigenous faculty at 快播视频 and is exploring how she can embed an infrastructure to support current Indigenous faculty and embed Indigenous perspectives and knowledge into the curriculum.

Hillier was the next panellist to respond. As Co-Chair of the Indigenous Council at 快播视频, he was asked to consider the question: What have you learned from the conversations happening and/or not happening about reconciliation?

A queer Mi鈥檏maw scholar from the Qalipu First Nation, Hillier began with a story about his grandparents. 鈥淢y grandparents never spoke of the erasure of their culture through dominant groups and violence and being ostracized, but the impacts remain. Deeply.鈥� he said.

鈥淚 appreciate the provost鈥檚 comments around learning because this process that we are now in is not a truth-finding process, but instead it is a learning process of coming to understand and coming to terms with the truths. So, what is reconciliation? For me, reconciliation is critical to our foundation of being able to move forward as a country. Reconciliation is complex, it is multifaceted, and it is continuous and can be contentious,鈥� said Hillier.

At its core, Hillier said, reconciliation is about learning, healing and coming together. It is about honouring the treaties that settlers entered with Indigenous Peoples. 鈥淲e must acknowledge and respect Indigenous rights and titles across this country. Reconciliation is also about learning about Indigenous history.

鈥淚t means recognizing the intergenerational impacts of colonization, attempts at assimilation and the cultural genocide taking place and it means recognizing the critical roles that Indigenous Peoples have held in the creating of this country,鈥� said Hillier. 鈥淩econciliation is supporting the reclamation of identity, language, of culture and nationhood. I did not start my speech today with my own language because it is something that I do not have.

鈥淲hen I talk to my students about the paths we are on, the journeys that we are on, I talk about a two-pronged journey. A journey of learning and a journey of healing. We all have a part in this, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, we must engage in this journey together.鈥�

As the Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, Condon was asked the question: What actions have you taken or want to take in service of reconciliation?

She began by saying that for legal educators and scholars, there is a strong awareness of the role that Canadian settler law and legal systems have played historically in facilitating colonial structures. 鈥淲hether that is facilitating particular types of treaty relationships and constitutional relationships between settlers and Indigenous Peoples, or the way in which settler law has facilitated the oppression that resulted in the residential school system and maintaining of those oppressive structures,鈥� said Condon.

She observed that the comments and 94 recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission focused on law schools as being necessary to the journey toward reconciliation, including re-teaching how Canadian law has facilitated the oppression of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, creating a cohort of lawyers who can properly and respectfully serve Indigenous clients, and exploring how law schools can make space for the conversations and the study of Indigenous law.

鈥淚 think that it is fair to say that all law schools in Canada have taken up that response and that invitation from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to reflect on the role that legal education should play in the journey towards reconciliation,鈥� said Condon.

She said Osgoode has hired four Indigenous scholars and faculty members into the school. The law school introduced an Indigenous law requirement to its JD degree and last June, the first cohort of students who have completed this requirement graduated and have a greater degree of knowledge of Indigenous perspectives on law. She is hoping to engage the law school alumni in conversations about truth and reconciliation. Condon spoke with pride about the Indigenous law camp for first year students and a law camp for upper year students. She said the law camps provide students and faculty with an opportunity to learn about communities, laws and legal orders from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers and Elders.

As manager of Indigenous Student Services on campus, Pitawanakwat, an Anishinabe with the Anishinabek Nation, is from the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island. He said that he was proud to be participating in the panel. He spoke about the impact of residential schools on his family, specifically his father and grandfather who attended the St. Joseph Residential School in Spanish, Ontario. 鈥淭his was never spoken about to the children, it was a topic that no one discussed,鈥� he said, noting, 鈥渢he education system participated in the lack of education about Indigenous Peoples, so now the education system must now become a full participant in the reconciliation efforts.

鈥淲e need to accomplish an awareness of the past wrongs and right these wrongs. We need to accomplish a desire to join in building a new relationship. Reflecting on my current position within the York community, my hope is that we focus on establishing learning opportunities for staff and students,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here is so much to learn about Indigenous Peoples and these learning opportunities can include both in-person and online learning, including in the form of training sessions that can be made available as professional development for staff and employees. We need to build the capacity for learning and have resources available. There is a lot of work to do throughout the entire institution and we need to come together and establish a coordinated effort and set a plan, rather than the current piecemeal format.鈥�

The learning process will be difficult, said Pitawanakwat, but necessary. 鈥淲e must all work together on this, reconciliation is everyone鈥檚 responsibility.鈥�

The last to respond in the panel, Teong brought a student perspective to the question: What actions have you taken or want to take in the service of reconciliation?

Teong responded that he felt lost and overwhelmed in trying to ascertain where to start his own journey. 鈥淎s a student leader, a Canadian and the son of immigrants, my parents came to this land to build a better life. 鈥淎s I reflect on reconciliation, I remind myself that impact begins with one person. I want to work in the service of reconciliation. Whether it be working with campus partners and Indigenous Student Services to learn what they do and how to incorporate their vision into our own [Glendon Student Government], I commit myself and the team to working with the Indigenous councils and student groups.鈥�

Personally, he said that he was engaging with the Canadian Language Museum on the Glendon Campus and encouraged those viewing the panel to visit and study the museum鈥檚 free exhibit. He is pursuing his own learning through reading about the Residential School System and the intergenerational harm caused to Indigenous Peoples. He is also taking courses to learn more about the experiences of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. 鈥淎s we talk about actions, it starts with learning and with difficult conversations. One person taking the first step forward and inspiring others to do the same, and it is in this spirit that we can make things better.鈥�

In her closing remarks, Cote-Meek said that the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation represented an important milestone, and the panel was important for 快播视频.

鈥淎s you reflect on the great injustices of the Residential School System in Canada, I want to remind you that colonization remains ongoing for Indigenous Peoples. I will leave you with the stark realities that Indigenous children and families continue to face today,鈥� said Cote-Meek. 鈥淭here are three times more First Nations children in the current child welfare system than there were at the height of the residential schools. First Nations children are six to eight times more likely to go into child welfare care than non-Indigenous children. This over-representation is largely caused by a number of factors beyond the control of individual families and parents, some of which include poverty, poor housing, under-funded education, and in many cases the lack of access to safe drinking water,鈥� said Cote-Meek. 鈥淭here are a number of other reports that are available online that I would ask you to explore. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Report remains out there and little action has been taken. A new report on the gender-diverse and non-binary community speaks to the high rates of violence directed not only to women but to that community as well.

鈥淎ll of the speakers have provided us with deeper insights into what reflecting on reconciliation in action can be. There is no doubt that it will be a long journey. I leave you with this question: What will you personally commit to going forward?鈥�

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