Jun 3 2021
Every Child Matters: Calls to Action
For the month of June, the WAG building will be lit orange in honour of Indigenous Peoples History Month and in recognition of the children whose remains were found on the former sites of the Indian Residential Schools on Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation, Cowessess First Nation, Ktunaxa Nation and the community of ʔaq̓am.
WAG-Qaumajuq supports the renewed calls from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation for all the children who never came home. Learn more here.
We encourage settler Canadians to get involved in the following ways and by writing a letter to their MP to urge the Federal government to take action by supporting Indigenous communities’ calls for ground radar searches at every residential school in Canada. A sample letter is below.
Additional Information & Ways to Support:
- Learn which Nation’s territory you live on
- Learn about the residential school timeline
- Read the National Student Memorial Register
- Read the TRC Calls to Action
- Download activity guides and educational resources
- Listen to Residential School Survivors talk about their experiences here and here
- Take a free online course called “Indigenous Canada” offered by the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta
- Donate to Na-Mi-Quai-Ni-Mak Community Support Fund
- Donate to the Indian Residential Survivors Schools Society
Sample Letter
- Identify your MP
- Copy their email address into a new email
- Copy and paste sample letter below, or another message, into an email
Dear _______,
I am writing as one of your constituents to express my deep concerns about the discovery of 215 children at the former site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School on Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation as well as the 751 unmarked graves at a cemetery near the former Marieval Indian Residential School on Cowessess First Nation and now the 182 unmarked graves at the site of the St. Eugene’s Mission Residential School on Ktunaxa Nation and the community of ʔaq̓am.
I would like the Government of Canada to provide supports to Indigenous communities to conduct ground radar searches at residential school sites within their territories so that all of the lost children can be identified and given a proper burial. This is in direct reference to the TRC Call’s to Actions 71-76.
Sincerely
(insert your name)
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I did this today!
To Blaine Calkins/MP
Glad to hear it!