December 17th 2023: Truth and Reconciliation

MEET SARAH LEWIS

Sarah (she/her) is an Anishinaabe Kwe (Ojibwe and Cree) spoken word artist, activist, musician, community organizer, and mother with ancestral roots in Curve Lake First Nation and Pukatawagon, Manitoba.
She served as Peterborough’s inaugural Poet Laureate and has been featured on CBC Arts, Global News, and stages worldwide. Sarah utilizes poetry as an act of resistance, giving voice to Indigenous resurgence and reclamation of identities, culture, strength, and sovereignty. She encourages aspiring poets to speak their truth and to envision a decolonial society where sexism, patriarchy, capitalism, and racism do not exist.

First Reading: Rigoberta Menchú Tum is a K’iche’ Guatemalan feminist, activist, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. The quote that follows comes from her acceptance speech in 1992. She is known for advocating for the rights of Guatemala’s Indigenous people and Indigenous people globally. She founded the country’s first Indigenous political party, which is called Winaq, and ran for president in 2007 and 2011. Our history is a living history, that has throbbed, withstood and survived many centuries of sacrifice. Now it comes forward again with strength. The seeds, dormant for such a long time, break out today with some uncertainty, although they germinate in a world that is at present characterized by confusion and uncertainty. – Rigoberta Menchú Tum

Second Reading: Sitting in corners wringing hands and wondering what to do is not going to advance anything, including yourself. Read the calls to action, and as you go through them one at a time, ask yourself: do I belong in this call? - Jesse Wente, Journalist and Broadcaster Banff Centre Truth and Reconciliation Summit Moderator