Our hearts go out to the com­mu­ni­ty of Tk’emlups Te Secwepemc First Nation, to the fam­i­lies and sur­vivors of Res­i­den­tial Schools in Cana­da, and to the Indige­nous peo­ple across Tur­tle Island that are heavy with grief right now. We are hor­ri­fied and sad­ly unsur­prised at the dis­cov­ery of 215 Indige­nous chil­dren at the Res­i­den­tial School in Kam­loops. We sup­port and ampli­fy the calls of Indige­nous peo­ple for account­abil­i­ty from all lev­els of gov­ern­ment and from the per­pe­tra­tors of these crimes at Res­i­den­tial Schools. 

As set­tlers on Tur­tle Island we have a respon­si­bil­i­ty and duty to edu­cate our­selves about the geno­cide and the atroc­i­ties of Res­i­den­tial Schools, the impacts, and the ongo­ing col­o­niza­tion of Indige­nous Peo­ple; and to take action now to address this harm. This is chal­leng­ing and nec­es­sary work that all non-Indige­nous peo­ple must do. Start with edu­cat­ing your­self, and then advo­cat­ing with, and fight­ing for jus­tice for Indige­nous Peo­ples across Tur­tle Island. 

The TRC Call to Action out­lines three calls to action relat­ed to media and rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, that while not specif­i­cal­ly relat­ed to com­mu­ni­ty radio, iden­ti­fy the work that needs to be done with­in media orga­ni­za­tions so that there is more truth­ful sto­ry­telling, there is increased space on media plat­forms for Indige­nous peo­ple, and a deep­er com­mit­ment to equi­table hir­ing practices. 

There are many Indige­nous folks and orga­ni­za­tions that are doing the work to help offer edu­ca­tion and resources to non-Indige­nous peo­ple, and we thank them for their efforts. We rec­og­nize this is non-Indige­nous people’s work to bear and we have com­piled a list of resources and actions you can take:

1. Sim­ple actions you can take now are to dis­play a ted­dy bear in your win­dow, make a dona­tion, and to pay your respects at some of the memo­r­i­al sites set up across Win­nipeg and Manitoba.
2. Write let­ters to your MP’s, MLA’s, and city coun­cil mem­bers and demand that all lev­els of gov­ern­ment rec­og­nize these actions for the heinous crimes that they are and pur­sue avenues of jus­tice for IRS sur­vivors and their fam­i­lies; demand that there are inves­ti­ga­tions at the remain­ing Res­i­den­tial School sites across Man­i­to­ba and Cana­da; demand that they re-com­mit to imple­ment­ing the TRC calls to action imme­di­ate­ly, demand that they take action on the Inquiry into MMIWG2S peo­ple imme­di­ate­ly. Be spe­cif­ic and write a let­ter from your heart that calls for imme­di­ate action and accountability. 
3. Read the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion Com­mis­sion and con­tin­ue to take action in ways that you can based on these rec­om­men­da­tions. http://​trc​.ca/​a​s​s​e​t​s​/​p​d​f​/​C​a​l​l​s​_​t​o​_​A​c​t​i​o​n​_​E​n​g​l​i​s​h​2.pdf
4. You can read the names of the chil­dren who were known to have died at Res­i­den­tial School. Thi is a list of over 4,000 chil­dren. https://​memo​r​i​al​.nctr​.ca/​?​p​a​g​e​_​i​d=372
5. You can watch Res­i­den­tial School Sur­vivors tes­ti­fy for the Truth and Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion Com­mis­sion. Warn­ing, this is hor­ri­fy­ing and heart­break­ing.
6. https://​lega​cy​ofhope​.ca/​w​h​e​r​e​a​r​e​t​h​e​c​h​i​l​d​r​e​n​/​s​t​o​ries/
7. Here is a list of films relat­ed to Miss­ing and Mur­dered Indige­nous Women to watch: https://www.kairoscanada.org/missing-murdered…/films
8. You can edu­cate your­self about the land you are on and the peo­ple whose land it is by vis­it­ing: https://​native​-land​.ca/
9. Read more by vis­it­ing the Win­nipeg Pub­lic Library Res­i­den­tial Schools Info Guide: https://​guides​.wpl​.win​nipeg​.ca/​r​e​s​i​d​e​n​t​i​a​l​s​c​hools
10. You can pur­sue fur­ther edu­ca­tion to learn more; there are lots of options but here is a free one: https://www.ualberta.ca/…/indigenous-canada/index.html
11. Make a dona­tion to the Indi­an Res­i­den­tial School Sur­vivors Soci­ety. IRSSS pro­vides essen­tial ser­vices to Res­i­den­tial School Sur­vivors, their fam­i­lies, and to those deal­ing with inter­gen­er­a­tional trau­mas. https://​www​.irsss​.ca/​d​onate

Please reach out for sup­port if you, or some­one you know is in need, dur­ing this time. The Nation­al Indi­an Res­i­den­tial School Cri­sis Line has been set up to pro­vide sup­port for for­mer stu­dents and those affect­ed. The Nation­al Indi­an Res­i­den­tial School Cri­sis Line is 1−866−925−4419.

Indi­an Res­i­den­tial Schools Res­o­lu­tion Health Sup­port Program

*This list was com­piled in part from a post on Face­book writ­ten by Dawn Bren­nan