I proudly wore my orange jersey most of September. Don’t worry, I have a collection of orange t-shirts. Today is, as I write this, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. I was out and about early, and I didn’t see many orange jerseys and…. it got me thinking.
This statutory day of holiday was declared by the federal government in 2021 to honour survivors and families of those who were institutionalized in what was called Residential Schools. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Final Report after seven years of gathering evidence and testimony from those who endured the horrors of isolation from family and way of life, an isolation that often included emotional and physical abuse, lack of proper nutrition and care, under the guise of education and with the hidden purpose of taking “the Indian out of children.” The TRC’s Final Report listed 94 Calls to Action. I have a copy of The Final Report which I strive to read from regularly, to remind myself how far we have yet to go. How many of these 94 Calls to Action have been implemented, you might ask? The answer was not easy to find and required some digging, the information not readily available. Testimony was heard from more than 6,500 survivors who stood up and spoke their truth about the abuse and trauma they suffered in these institutions that I refuse to call schools. The courage they exhibited in speaking and revisiting the horror was undoubtedly fuelled by the promise that change was afoot, that wrongs couldn’t be erased but could be righted with new policies and actions. Michelle Good, author of “Five Little Indians,” a lawyer and member of Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, reported in The Toronto Star that 14 of the 94 Calls to Action have found their way to completion, hardly a passing grade for the federal government’s promise, not to mention legal responsibility. I suggest you seek out Michelle Good’s article, which is as always, concise and intelligent writing on a subject we should all have interest in.
November 4, 2025, will mark one year since the passing of Murray Sinclair, commissioner for the TRC, a man who was our moral compass, who challenged the government to do better, who spoke for those who can’t. Mr. Sinclair left a legacy and a challenge for every Canadian to ensure his work was not in vain. Like me, Murray Sinclair was a descendant of Nahoway Sinclair, my great (x4) grandmother born at Fort Prince of Wales circa 1772. Where he followed the branch of the tree of one of Nahoway’s sons, I came from the branch of her youngest daughter Mary. Each year on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation I remind myself I can and must do better, to be a participant in change and not an observer, to uphold the truth in the face of those who claim that said institutions were anything but instruments of cultural genocide, that we must engage in honouring history in its truth rather than a one-sided European narrative.
This past weekend I attended the Deep Roots Music Festival in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, an inspiring experience. The festival opened with a Sacred Smudging Ceremony, led by Mi’kmaq Sandy-Lyn Fisher, Community Services Officer for Glooscap First Nation. Sandy-Lyn, along with her children Lily-Beth and Morgan, set the tone of honour and kindness, of forgiveness and hope, to open this year’s musical celebration. Playing quietly in the background during this ceremony was Morgan Toney. Morgan is a Mi’kmaq folk singer-songwriter who plays a mean fiddle, blending Celtic folk with his traditional music. Morgan is from the Wagmatcook First Nation on Cape Breton who started his professional career at the onset of Covid, but his resilience and determination wasn’t deterred by the limitations that the pandemic heaped on all of us. I attended his performance during the Deep Roots Music Festival and was uplifted by his energy and hope, by his commitment to his roots and his talent. We all stood while he and his trio played the Mi’kmaq Honour Song, sung in its ancestral language. At the end of the evening’s performing line-up, Mr. Toney received a resounding standing ovation, an ovation that went on and on as those in attendance expressed their joy, their respect for his talent and commitment to his heritage, and hopefully they departed the theatre hall with a renewed commitment to meet the challenge of ensuring we progress to real Truth and Reconciliation. It is my deepest hope.
wendistewart@live.ca
