From left: UVic President Kevin Hall, Her Excellency Mary Simon,
His Excellency Whit Fraser; Ry Moran, Andrea Walsh, Carey Newman; Kylie Fineday
Her Excellency The Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, shared opening remarks last week at an emotional University of Victoria event to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Calls to Action. Simon touched on her personal experience at the TRC when she shared stories about her childhood and education in Nunavik, and the children in her community who were sent to residential schools.
Simon remarked that “when the TRC report was released 10 years ago, most Canadians learned about what happened for the first time. And I remember people being horrified, saying ‘I did not know.’ Years later, the findings of unmarked graves of children at former residential school sites moved people even more.”
Under the stalwart leadership of the late former Senator Murray Sinclair, along with the dedicated and often difficult work of the TRC Commissioners, Survivors, and many others, the TRC has left an immeasurable impact on Canadian society.
Today, the TRC continues to play a pivotal role in the daily lives of Canadians, shaping the path towards collective understanding of truth, reconciliation and the change called for within Canadian society.
In a recent letter, Simon, who is also a UVic Honorary LLD, tells Canadians that she is “encouraged to see Survivors, Elders and so many people supporting each other as we work to recognize Canada’s true, national history.”
The Right Honourable Mary Simon
Associate University Librarian – Reconciliation Ry Moran moderated a panel discussion featuring UVic faculty members Carey Newman (Fine Arts Impact Chair in Indigenous Art Practices), Andrea Walsh, (Social Sciences’ Smyth Chair in Arts & Engagement) and John Borrows (Law) to remind, encourage and inspire Canadians to think about actions past, present and future.
Simon impressed upon the audience the breadth of innovative work that UVic has done to respond to the 94 Calls to Action— some of them activated in the UVic Indigenous Plan—and spoke about the university’s hub for knowledge with its Indigenous resurgence and language revitalization program, the world’s first JD/JID law degree, the soon-to-be opened National Centre for Indigenous Laws (NCIL) at the Faculty of Law, the recent installation of the Survivors’ Flag, Orange Shirt Day, and decolonizing efforts on campus.
Sharing truth through visual testimonies
During the panel discussion, Walsh, visual anthropologist and honorary witness to the TRC (as well as a UVic Visual Arts alumna), spoke about the role that repatriating art from residential schools plays in the journey to reconciliation. Through her work with Survivors of the Alberni Residential School she has repatriated personal childhood paintings that once belonged to them.
When Walsh reflects on these significant moments, she sees through the lens of the Survivors what these pieces of paper mean to them—not just as sacred treasures, but as physical connections between generations. “This is the only thing I have as a nine-year-old,” said one Survivor.
For Walsh the artwork is a catalyst for starting difficult family conversations, contributing to governance, and for storytelling. Her hope for the future is that these fragile works of art will guide difficult conversations and action.
From left: Walsh, Newman, Borrows
The Witness Blanket and the power of community engagement
Multi-disciplinary artist and Department of Visual Arts professor Newman discussed the way that art can participate in truth, the formation of it, and the holding onto it in the process of reconciliation. His view of truth is seen on three levels: a personal one—how it reaches individuals; on a communal level—how it can bring people together, and on a structural level—for how it can impact and affect bigger things in subtle ways.
Watching people interact with his large-scale art installation the Witness Blanket, Newman noticed certain objects resonate when viewing the blanket – where an individual object will connect a person to a memory of their own life and experience. “Once we make a personal connection to something, it becomes important,” explains Newman. “And once it becomes important, then we are willing maybe to participate, to be uncomfortable, to roll up our sleeves, and do some of the work that needs to be done.”
As the concept for Newman’s project started to come to fruition, he found more people contributing to its creation, slowly building trust and developing ideas. “Throughout that process, I was changing my relationship with my material,” says Newman. “Once I started getting contributions from people—and I knew that they were mementos, that they had memories attached to them— it elevated my responsibility to them.”
Newman’s Witness Blanket at its permanent home in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights
A new chapter begins
Towards the end of her remarks, Simon provided an overview of the work that has been done in advancing the calls to action. She reflected on the many “firsts “that are happening in this country sparked by an awakening due to the TRC—witnessing the historic apology by the Pope in Canada; meeting with Canada’s Indigenous leaders and King Charles before his coronation to renew relationships with the Crown; the creation of the First Nations University of Canada in Saskatchewan, and the first Inuit University grounded in Inuit culture and language to be opened in a few years time.
Looking back on the last 10 years, Moran believes that our collective response should be clear in looking ahead, and that we need to maintain hope, belief, and conviction that respectful relationships and human rights will endure any obstacles and roadblocks placed in the way.
“Perhaps more than anything, the opportunity at hand is to remember the long and difficult struggle that it took to even make those 94 Calls to Action possible in the first place,” says Moran. “Generations fought, resisted, and struggled to create the opportunity for that Commission to even occur in the first place. This is not something we should take for granted, nor is it something that should be trivialized.”
“Ajuinata, never give up,” Simon implored the audience, using an Inuktitut word, reminding all in attendance that people need to engage students and youth in current discussions as they will be the stewards to carry reconciliation into the future.
Following the formal panel presentation, Simon then participated in a reconciliation discussion circle with current students, including Visual Arts MFA student Kylie Fineday (seen at the top) and AHVS MA student Chris Mockford.
Watch the full panel discussion here:
Chris Mockford
—Story by Lisa Abrams (Library) with photos by Greg Miller (UVic Photo Services)