Our Path to Healing and Reconciliation
We invite our community to support Survivors and honour the many children who never made it home to their families. Over 1,800 donors have chosen to do so since May 27 when Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk’emúps te Secwépemc First Nation confirmed the remains of 215 children were found in an unmarked grave on the former site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School.
To show your support, gifts can be made directly to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation or to one of the three NCTR funds listed below.
Na-mi-quai-ni-mak (I remember them) community support fund
There is a national and urgent need to help communities acknowledge the children that never made it home. Your gift to the Na-mi-quai-ni-mak (I remember them) community support fund helps support small community-based projects that further healing and remembrance related to residential schools in Canada. These funds support Indigenous communities, Survivor Organizations, registered non-profits and others with small grants for memorial activities.
Communities and Residential School Survivors know what activities best support healing, memorials and remembrance in their communities. When you make a gift to the community support fund you help build on previous efforts to recognize the lasting impact of residential schools on Indigenous communities.
Truth and Reconciliation Week fund
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission published 94 calls to action. Six years later, Residential School Survivors continue to stress the need to share the history of Residential Schools and stories of truth and reconciliation in Canada’s education curriculum.
Truth and Reconciliation Week 2021 (September 27-October 1) built upon the success of Every Child Matters: Reconciliation through Education that drew hundreds of thousands of students for a day-long historical reflection on the treatment of First Nations, Métis and Inuit in Canada. The NCTR is planning to continue this programming each year. Your donation to the Truth and Reconciliation Week fund goes toward programming created by Indigenous storytellers for Grades 5-12 students in Canada.
Imagine a Canada
The Imagine a Canada 2021-2022 program asks Canadian youth from K-G12 and CÉGEP to envision a Canada reconciled. Students who participate in the K-G5 stream are asked to submit an art piece, essay, or other representation which expresses their vision of a reconciled Canada. Students in the G6-G12 and CÉGEP stream are asked to go one step further and submit a plan and budget for their vision that addresses reconciliation in their community or school.
Twelve projects from the K-G5 stream and 15 projects from G6-G12 and CÉGEP stream will be selected and honoured in a national ceremony. With support from donors like you, the students responsible for these projects will have the opportunity to participate in online leadership training exercises. Your gifts will also support students with selected projects from the G6-G12 and CÉGEP stream who will receive a micro-grant to turn their vision of a reconciled Canada into a reality.
NCTR’s spirit name – bezhig miigwan, meaning “one feather”.
Bezhig miigwan calls upon us to see each Survivor coming to the NCTR as a single eagle feather and to show those Survivors the same respect and attention an eagle feather deserves. It also teaches we are all in this together — we are all one, connected, and it is vital to work together to achieve reconciliation.