October 2nd 2022 : National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

This Sunday we will commemorate National Day for Truth and Reconciliation which takes place every year on September 30. Inspired by Thamer Linklater’s poem written for the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation we will wonder about why we wear orange. Do we do it to fit in or do we do it as a sign of atonement? To achieve reconciliation we must go beyond apologies and holidays and commit to making repairs for the harm caused. We must go beyond reconciliation and commit to “reconciliation”. We must commit to love in action so that we might be part of the healing of the world. 

1st reading: Our first reading is Call to Action 61 from the Truth and Reconciliation Report. There are 94 calls to action in total with five explicit calls to action for the churches which ran the Residential Schools. We chose Call to Action 61 because it demonstrates some of the explicit responses that our Indigenous neighbours have told us are necessary to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of reconciliation

Link: Call to Action 61 from Truth and Reconciliation Report

2nd reading: A Poem for Truth and Reconciliation by Thamer Linklater  Thamer Linklater is a member of Nisichawayasihk (Nih-sih-cha-why-a-seek) Cree Nation and a survivor of the Child Welfare system in Manitoba. She recently graduated from the University of Winnipeg with a B.A. in English and is now working on her Master’s in Indigenous Studies at Trent University. She wrote this poem as a lament for the suffering caused by colonisation through the residential school systems one year ago for the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. 

Link :A Poem for Truth and Reconciliation by Thamer Linklater