NCTR archive launched

The opening of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation continued for a second day with education-focused events at the RBC Convention Centre on Wednesday, November 4. Winnipeg Free Press reporter Alexandra Paul writes about the day’s events:

If Tuesday was the time for a ceremony where dignitaries paid respect to the fact the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba now houses the repository of records and testimony about residential schools, Wednesday was about acting on it.
The centre wasted little time getting to work on the business of educating Canada about the dark chapter in assimilation and a brighter, shared future.

Some 1,700 school kids and 350 teachers were assembled at the convention centre to start the process of reconciliation.
Students and teachers from 35 public schools and half a dozen private, independent schools attended, along with students from half a dozen First Nations schools.

Former Olympian Clara Hughes urged students to stand up for the truth of residential schools and commit positive acts of reconciliation. “We’re asking you to imagine a brighter future for this country,” Hughes said.

Hughes introduced herself as a TRC honorary witness, a public-speaking role to talk about residential schools and reconciliation as a national process.

“I became an honorary witness to retell the stories that I’ve heard, to share with Canadians who don’t know what our true history is. I’m here to encourage all of you here today, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, to learn clearly what has happened, to learn about things that should never have been done… to tell people the truth,” Hughes said.

Read the full story at www.winnipegfreepress.com.

UM Today STaff