Editor:
Further to your article on the truth and reconciliation commission national Vancouver event, a pre-TRC event is scheduled for this Sunday, Sept. 15, starting at 5:30 p.m. at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Vancouver.
From History to Her Story: The Power of Women's Testimony in Truth and Reconciliation will include a by-donation dinner, traditional Filipina dancing, a discussion panel and Q&.
Open to all, this function focuses upon the role of women in social justice. The panel is comprised of Jill Harris, Penelakut First Nation; Naty Atz Sunuc, Guatemalan social justice activist; and Joanne Jefferson, Sto:lo First Nation. A "Women of Courage" presentation, the event is hosted by KAIROS.
Naty Atz Sunuc has been sponsored by KAIROS to provide international witness to the Vancouver TRC proceedings. By installing international oversight at each national event, KAIROS reminds the federal government that recommendations put forward by the commission are intended to be fulfilled. It also reminds them that the world acknowledges that, to date, our federal government in its treatment of Canada's First Peoples has not met basic human rights conditions laid out in the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights.
The Canadian Indian Residential School model, patterned after a penal institution for children in France, became the template for the Apartheid Movement in South Africa and similar schooling approaches throughout the British Commonwealth.
We are privileged to respectfully witness voices that have not previously been heard and to honour and support all IRS survivors.
Amends making begins with witness, eradication of our innate attitudes of entitlement and fostering relationships of equity, justice, respect and nation-to-nation dialogue with First Nations. Be part of this historical healing opportunity.
Celia Muncaster, Sechelt
