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Monthly reading group: Truth and Reconciliation Commission report
July 6, 2016 @ 5:30 am - 7:00 pm
Ecology Action Centre joins reconciliation pledge and challenges public to do the same
K’JIPUKTUK (HALIFAX) – June 21st, 2016
Nova Scotia’s largest environmental organization is challenging its staff, board, and membership to read the full summary report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) this year.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was organized by the parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. The final report of this commission details the horrific history and legacy of Canadian residential schools, which involved 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Mètis children over more than a century. As the TRC notes in the 360-odd page summary report, Canada needs to move from “apology to action” if reconciliation with Aboriginal Peoples is to succeed. The TRC includes 94 recommendations for change in policies, programs and the “way we talk to, and about, each other.”
EAC is inviting interested people to join them in exploring the report through a monthly reading group, which will meet on the first Wednesday of each month at 5:30pm, starting on July 6th.
“Reading this report is a key step towards understanding what the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action mean for us, both as an organization and in our own lives,” explains co-organizer Sadie Beaton, who also works as EAC’s Community Conservation Research Network Coordinator.
As reading group co-organizer Joanna Bull describes, “We are committing to this in order to hear the report directly and sincerely, to educate ourselves and increase our understanding of the impacts and legacy of residential schools in Canada.”
EAC’s commitment and challenge is part of a national pledge being organized by http://trcreadingchallenge.com/. Over 3000 people have signed up across Canada to read this crucial document, starting on June 21st, National Aboriginal Day. “Reconciliation is going to take hard work. People of all walks of life and at all levels of society will need to be willingly engaged,” notes the Commission in the closing of the report.
You can find the PDF version of the Summary Report here: http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Exec_Summary_2015_05_31_web_o.pdf.
For further information, please contact:
Joanna Bull
Volunteer & Events Coordinator
communications@ecologyaction.ca
Sadie Beaton
Community Conservation Research Coordinator
902-221-1953
