{"id":15262,"date":"2021-10-27T14:22:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T14:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/?p=15262"},"modified":"2021-10-27T14:26:54","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T14:26:54","slug":"a-painful-legacy-guelph-humber-observes-the-first-national-day-of-truth-and-reconciliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/?p=15262","title":{"rendered":"\u201cA painful legacy:\u201d Guelph-Humber observes the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation"},"content":{"rendered":"O<\/span>utside the front entrance to the University of Guelph-Humber last month, students returning to class walked past a striking display: 215 brightly painted orange stones to commemorate the hundreds of Indigenous children who are missing in Canada.<\/p>\n

On September 30th<\/sup>, everything from Edmonton Oilers jerseys to a jack-o-lantern tee could be seen around campus as students showed their support for the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about spreading awareness,\u201d said first-year Humber student Sayenthen Gnanaratnam. \u201cWe want the government to see that this is important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was established by the federal government in June, days after a mass grave was discovered on the former site of a residential school in B.C. At the time, the University of Guelph-Humber issued a statement of solidarity with the victims and encouraged affected students to contact support networks. Now, the school is making an effort to improve its Indigenous education: Jason Seright, Humber\u2019s Dean of Indigenous Education and Engagement, is involved in an effort to ensure that all programs at Guelph-Humber include a component of Indigenous-focused study.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re making it a safe and open place where people feel comfortable and providing them some education,\u201d he says. \u201cI think individuals are very respectful but at the same time they don\u2019t want to disrespect or hurt anybody, and they need that safe open place to sort of explore some of the questions they might have.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Mr. Seright, Humber College and the University of Guelph-Humber have around 500 Indigenous students on their records, but the number is probably higher. Students \u201cmay not be aware of their heritage or may not want to identify as Indigenous, so our stats and records don\u2019t reflect the true population,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s something we\u2019re definitely working on.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Bragues, Guelph-Humber\u2019s interim vice-provost, seems to agree that providing Indigenous-focused education is crucial. In the school\u2019s virtual session for Orange Shirt Day, he discussed the current curriculum reviews and announced a new staff-only course called Four Seasons of Reconciliation, an initiative from the First Nations University of Canada, to promote \u201ca renewed relationship between Indigenous peoples and settler Canadians.\u201d This will bolster the school\u2019s existing classes and initiatives, such as its course \u201cIndigenous Mental Health: A Global Perspective,\u201d which is available to psychology students.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not surprising that Guelph-Humber\u2019s psychology department is conscious of these issues: Program Head Dr. David Danto is a clinical psychologist with extensive experience studying and working with Indigenous communities in Canada. In Guelph-Humber\u2019s virtual dialogue, Dr. Danto discussed the necessity of keeping these issues in the public consciousness, saying \u201cThe work of reconciliation is the work of every Canadian\u2026On this day all of us can be thankful for the opportunity to engage in reflection as we consider where we are on the path toward reconciliation, and what actions we will take to right the injustices of the past and the present.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casiah Cagan, a fourth-year psychology student at Guelph-Humber, has been mindful of Indigenous issues after taking the school\u2019s Indigenous Studies course in her second year. Discussing the new holiday, she said \u201cIt\u2019s a step in the right direction: coming super late, but hopefully a day like this will help people to do the research and learn more.\u201d It won\u2019t be easy, she acknowledges, but will require a group effort among all of the students and staff: \u201cUsing allyship we might be able to actually get something done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Outside the front entrance to the University of Guelph-Humber last month, students returning to class walked past a striking display: 215 brightly painted orange stones to commemorate the hundreds of Indigenous children who are missing in Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":15265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[174,592,47,62],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15262"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gh360.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}