This Canada Day, we are pausing our activities and usual programming to stand with and support Indigenous communities.
Here at The Canadian Canoe Museum, we often say you can explore the history of Canada by the canoes in our collection. This history isn’t always comfortable. For all the good that canoes represent and the joy they bring us, we must also acknowledge the roles they have played in the atrocities committed against Indigenous Peoples, including, in some communities, the removal and transportation of children to residential schools.
We are listening, learning, and working to tell these stories better. The Canadian Canoe Museum is currently working with Indigenous People to ensure that their voices and perspectives are heard directly in our new exhibits. Every one of the communities we work with has been deeply affected by residential schools. We acknowledge this and want to support communities as they heal.
We encourage you to read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s reports, which detail the history of colonialism and the profound injustices inflicted on First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation. Without sharing, understanding, and reckoning with these truths and our shared history, there cannot be reconciliation and healing in Canada – and that responsibility is on us all as treaty people.
Resources
🔸 Truth and Reconciliation Commission Reports:
https://nctr.ca/records/reports/
🔸 Child-Friendly Truth and Reconciliation Commissions of Canada Calls to Action:
https://fncaringsociety.com/sites/default/files/child_friendly_calls_to_action_web.pdf
🔸 University of Alberta’s Indigenous Canada FREE online course:
https://www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/online-courses/indigenous-canada/index.html
🔸 The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line (1-866-925-4419) is available 24-hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their residential school experience.
