Every Child Matters: Orange Shirt Day

A message from President McCauley and Vice-Provost Dr. Hart

Read more from President Ed MCauley and Vice-Provost Dr. Hart on the discovery of 215 Indigenous children buried outside of the Kamloops residential school.

Vigil at Alberta Legislature for the 215 children at Kamloops Indian Residential School

Mac Male

A message from President Ed McCauley 

Last week it was confirmed that 215 Indigenous children were buried outside of a residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. My heart goes out to anybody suffering with this news, the fresh wounds it creates and the old wounds it reopens.

Children were buried en masse in a place that masqueraded as a schoolyard. Their lives were taken from them and their loved ones, from the communities they were torn from — communities that cared for them, communities that mourn them still.

Let us keep these children and the potential they had in our hearts.

Let us renew our commitment to support the families and communities they left behind.

And let us never forget the dark legacy of the residential school system.

As a university community, we have expressed our commitment to Indigenous engagement and reconciliation. Let us take this time to reflect upon the actions we can all take to address the hurdles and barriers to reconciliation. Let us act on our commitment by learning the hidden histories, the Indigenous cultures beside us, and ways to walk supportively beside Indigenous peoples on our parallel paths.

Both as individuals and as a university, we must continue to learn, to act and to grow if we wish to walk side by side forward in a better way.

Let us never forget these children.

Ed McCauley
President and Vice-Chancellor

 


A message from Vice-Provost Dr. Hart

In the past few days we have all learned of a mass burial at a residential school site in Kamloops, British Columbia. Children as young as three years old have been buried there. We are hearing the sorrow of many Canadians. They are experiencing the deep feeling Indigenous families and communities have been addressing for generations. Elders, parents, people everywhere are in mourning. Sadly, the discovery of this burial site is not unexpected. Many of us have spoken of such atrocities over the years. First Nation communities in many places have known and spoken of such sites. By coming to know these feelings, this atrocity and the history behind it, many of us hope we will move to transforming our journey together. 

June is National Indigenous History Month. The University of Calgary has made a commitment to change. Through our Indigenous strategy ii’ taa’poh’to’p we have tasked ourselves at all levels to learn of this painful history. We are addressing how and what we teach. We are taking on the responsibility to change our policies impacting Indigenous people. We are working with Indigenous students, staff, scholars, and community members. Indigenous History Month is an opportunity to learn; it is also an opportunity for each person, each unit of the university to add to the actions we have initiated. Reconciliation is about coming to know how to act, as an institution, units within, and people.

Elder-in-Residence Reg Crowshoe and I agree we must remember the children. Never forget the feelings we have and see in others, take and create opportunities to learn and teach about Indigenous histories, and enact transformation within ourselves individually, our units, and our institution. A parallel path means that we all take part in the journey and walk side by side. Let’s ensure the lives of the children have a greater meaning and touch us all.

Michael Hart
Vice-Provost (Indigenous Engagement)

 Vancouver memorial for 215 children whose remains were discovered at a Kamloops residential school

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