CLC: Remember, Honour, and Take Action

June is Indigenous History Month – a time for people across Canada to learn about the history and culture of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and their ongoing fights for justice and reconciliation.

Reconciliation can’t wait

Residential schools were created to erase Indigenous peoples and their culture.

First Nations, Inuit, and Métis kids were taken from their parents and sent to schools where they couldn’t speak their own language, wear their own clothes and sometimes weren’t even called by their own name.

Sever years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released their report after talking to survivors of these schools. It included 94 recommendations that offer a path forward.

Every year the Yellowhead Institute offers an update on where the TRC recommendations stand. Read it here.

Reconciliation is for everyone

The TRC’s Calls to Action aren’t only for government – individuals and organizations have a role to play too. Take time this month to learn more.

Every child matters

A year ago, many Canadians were shocked to learn that the former sites of Residential Schools stood over hundreds of unmarked graves.

It should have come as no surprise that children died at these schools, of disease, malnutrition, mistreatment and neglect.

That National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has a memorial wall you can visit to see the names of those children they’ve been able to put names to.

It doesn’t end there.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis kids today still face higher risk of being taken away from their families, higher risk of suicide, and worse.