Today marks Canada’s first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. On this important day of commemoration, the Zoryan Institute recognizes the tragic legacy of residential schools, the children who never came home, the families and communities left behind, and the survivors of these institutions.

“Canada has a broad history of actions that have multiple impacts upon Indigenous communities. We have to trace back everything from the dispossession of Indigenous territories, forced removals, famine conditions, the loss of bison and loss of access to other traditional food, restrictions on indigenous spiritual practices, the destruction of indigenous governments, loss of language, restrictions against the legal rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Indian Act, and then the residential schools.”

Prof. Andrew Woolford, University of Manitoba
Genocide and Human Rights University Program
https://youtu.be/An-vVOwJPb8

Education is the key to truth, reconciliation and prevention. On this important day of commemoration, the Zoryan Institute is offering academic resources from its journals, e-Chronicles, webinars and conferences to learn more about the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, the residential school systems, and how you can support. Click on the images and links below to learn more.

• A National or International Crime? Canada’s Indian Residential Schools and the Genocide Convention, Anthony J. Hall, Genocide Studies International, Volume 12, Issue 1, Spring 2018, pp. 72-91
• Questions of Privacy and Confidentiality after Atrocity: Collecting and Retaining Records of the Residential School System in Canada, Tricia Logan, Genocide Studies International, Volume 12, Issue 1, Spring 2018, pp. 92-102
• Ontological Destruction: Genocide and Canadian Aboriginal Peoples, Andrew Woolford, Genocide Studies and Prevention, Volume 4, Issue 1, April 2009, pp. 81-97
• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• Digital copies of important and relevant reports for Survivors and their families, researchers, media and the public

• Indigenous Peoples of North America, a Webinar led by Prof. Lorena Sekwan-Fontaine, University of Manitoba, for the Genocide and Human Rights Webinar Series
• Phil Fontaine, Former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, discusses from Truth to Reconciliation: Towards a Just Future for the Indigenous Peoples of Canada
• An interview with Prof. Andrew Woolford, University of Manitoba, sheds light on the immense strife of Indigenous Peoples in North America as a result of settler-colonialism
• An Interview with Prof. Maureen Hiebert, University of Calgary, on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Zoryan Institute (Toronto office) wishes to acknowledge the land on which it operates. For thousands of years,  it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island. The Institute, its staff, and affiliates are grateful for the opportunity to work on this land.