How can you support truth and reconciliation? Lakehead offers help

Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux is Lakehead University’s chair on truth and reconciliation.

From OrilliaMatters, February 17, 2022
By OrilliaMatters Staff

Lakehead University is launching a community-based education series to support those seeking to understand and respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action.

Featuring Indigenous Elders and knowledge keepers, the five-week series, Truth and Reconciliation: Community Dialogues, will focus on learning truths related to Indigenous histories and contemporary experiences in Canada, and discussing how reconciliation can be enacted in meaningful ways in our communities.

“Our responsibility lies in dismantling the biases and beliefs in and around us,” said Dr. Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, Lakehead’s Chair on Truth and Reconciliation and one of the speakers in the series.

“The truth is buried beneath inaccessible advantages and lurks in the darkness of denial where it will not allow change. Shining a light on truth allows us all to move forward together, heal injustice, and ensure an inclusive and equitable future.”

Developed through a partnership between Wesley-Esquimaux and Lakehead’s Office of Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning, the series is geared toward youth and adults who are ready to engage with truth and participate in reconciliation.

“People want to be allies, but there is still uncertainty about how to start, sustain, and further work through these processes,” explained Dr. Linda Rodenburg, Director of Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning. “We hope that this series helps them answer the question ‘what can I do?’.”

Supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, this free series will be held over five weeks from March 1 to 29 on Tuesdays via Zoom. Register at www.lakeheadu.ca/cell.