Honouring the needs of Indigenous communities

Steven Low was born to a Jewish family in Poland in 1932. During World War Two, his mother hid him in a monastery, which saved his life but didn’t shield him from horrors of the Holocaust. After the war, he was reunited with his mother, and they came to Canada.  

While attending McGill University on a chess scholarship, he joined Gairdner & Company as a Security Analyst. Within a year he was recruited by American mining entrepreneur Joseph Hirshhorn, joining the team that discovered “The Big Z”. A man of great vision and bold ideas, he ventured around the globe, from investing in copper mining in South America to brokering oil deals in the Middle East. Always ahead of the curve and ready to embrace new trends, he was a leading figure in bringing pharma, electronics and telecom to post-Soviet Russia. He had a gift of seeing opportunities and solutions to problems and the courage to take them.  

His curiosity and love for exploration saw him work closely with First Nation groups across Ontario, during various phases throughout his life. In 2021, when the news broke regarding the discovery of unmarked graves at residential schools in Canada, he was heartbroken. 

“When the the graves were discovered across Canada, starting with one Indian Residential School and then another, he was horrified by that,” said Steven’s daughter Veronica Low. “He called me in tears. He was absolutely shocked and outraged and angered that this had happened in Canada, the country that had welcomed him and his mother. He felt that something had to be done.”  

Veronica and her father started to talk about creating a foundation, and their first course of action was to reach out to Indigenous groups and communities across Canada to find out what they needed and/or wanted and pledged that the Foundation would be set up in a way that could honour that. In the fall of 2022, with the help of the Oakville Community Foundation, they created The Steven Low Foundation. 

Her father’s hope for the Foundation that would bear his name was also to help find the beloved remains of residential school children, bringing some closure to those suffering from generational trauma. To help make that hope a reality, the Foundation recently made a gift to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR). 

In a letter accompanying the gift, Steven wrote: “As a Holocaust survivor, I know firsthand what it is like to be robbed of one’s identity, heritage, and future. I survived. I lived. I was granted a life, coming to Canada as a refugee. I was given hope by a nation, only to learn the appalling truth of its past. It is my personal wish that The Steven Low Foundation bring healing and hope to those who have suffered too much and for too long.” 

“At the end of the day, do I have the responsibility, the obligation, to fix this? Yes, we all do,” said Veronica. “There are a lot of people who say this happened a long time ago, but that’s just not true. And unfortunately to this day there are politicians who deny this has ever happened just as there were politicians who denied the Holocaust ever happened. This is where the NCTR has such an important critical role in sharing the truths and stories of Survivors.” 

For this father-daughter team, it was imperative to get out there and do something. Whether doing something means reading about it and opening your eyes, researching and understanding the truth and from an Indigenous group or educational program or making a donation, they said they weren’t going to wait, and they encourage other people not to wait either.  

“I think with philanthropy, you have to have faith that the people you’re supporting have a genuine request and a genuine need, and you give to them with no strings attached,” said Veronica. “If I were to give advice to others thinking about giving back, it would be to have that same faith and not micromanage. If you’re going to give, give from your heart, give what’s needed, give what’s requested and trust that it will be properly managed.”  

That ultimately is the main goal of the Foundation: to hear directly from Indigenous communities, groups and organizations about what needs funding and give what’s needed. While everything is run through the Oakville Community Foundation, Veronica still meets with all funding requesters as she knows it was important to her now late father, and she feels him smiling down on her knowing he’s happy they’re helping to do the right thing. 

In conclusion to his letter, Steven wrote: “To do nothing is not an option. It is in all of us to step forward, be mindful leaders, and treat each other with dignity and respect. It is up to all of us to right an unconscionable wrong in any and every way we can.” 

For more information about the Steven Low Foundation, visit their website. 

For more information about the NCTR, visit their website. 

Learn more about how donor support is making an impact at UM.

Emily Janssens