Never Forgotten, Never Repeated: Advancing Reconciliation Through Education

During this year’s Truth and Reconciliation Week, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg helps adult learners begin the journey to healing

September 23, 2024

It’s the Survivors of residential schools who launched the journey for truth and reconciliation in Canada.

They drew strength from their painful histories and demanded government and church entities account for their actions. They called for justice through the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC).

And it is these Survivors who, after all they endured at the hands of colonizers and settlers, have offered Indigenous and non-Indigenous people a gift—the gift of reconciliation.

“I love the word ‘reconciliation’ because it’s subjective; your definition could differ from my definition,” says Kaila Johnston, an intergenerational residential school Survivor and member of Ochapowace First Nation in southeast Saskatchewan.

“People can start a reconciliation journey for themselves and delve deep into their learning.”

The work of reconciliation in Canada is supported by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, a non-profit that evolved out of the TRC. Located in Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba, the centre is the permanent home for the stories, statements, records and materials collected by the TRC for Survivors and families to gain access to their history and documents.

“The work is to help ensure that we find every child that didn’t come home,” says Johnston, who is the centre’s director of education and public programming.

“It’s to ensure that we tell the truths of our Survivors, and that those truths are used to combat denialism . . . and to ensure these things are never repeated again.”

Canadians will observe this year’s Truth and Reconciliation Week from Sept. 23 to 27, followed by the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30. To support learning during this period, the centre will deliver multiple educational opportunities for students and adults to unlearn the myths of colonial history in Canada.

“Knowing that there is this hunger and desire to learn and understand, we want to be able to provide more education and awareness,” Johnston says.

Last year, more than 40,000 people across Canada attended NCTR’s lunch-and-learn events. The adult-oriented sessions will be offered again this year, covering topics such as the impacts of residential schools and colonial systems, unconscious bias, Indigenous identity theft and barriers to reconciliation.

Each session will have English and French simultaneous interpretation as well as American Sign Language interpretation. Recordings of the sessions will be made available online.

Funding for the trilingual components was provided by Enbridge, as part of our ongoing commitment to advancing reconciliation. We contributed a $50,000 Fueling Futures grant in support of the centre’s Truth and Reconciliation Week events, with a focus on making the education sessions more accessible to people across Canada.

As a company, we have a strong track record of engaging with Indigenous communities across North America. In 2022, we launched our first Indigenous Reconciliation Action Plan (IRAP), which affirms our long-held commitment to strengthening relationships with Indigenous communities near our operations.

As part of our support of Truth and Reconciliation Week, Enbridge employees recently attended an empowerment summit in Winnipeg, and will also be present at a National Day of Truth and Reconciliation event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

“We see a lot of really great pockets of learning activities happening across the country,” Johnston explains, noting the strong interest of workplaces, schools and groups to educate their communities about the history of residential schools and participate meaningfully in reconciliation.

“People are utilizing (the centre’s) resources to start their journey,” she adds.

“We can help foster healing and reconciliation by providing access to content and ensuring this history is never forgotten—or repeated.”

(TOP PHOTO: Attendees enjoy the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation's youth empowerment event in September 2024. Photo courtesy Darcy Finley.)