Treaties Recognition Week November 1st to November 7th
November 1st to 7th has been designated by the Ontario government to increase awareness of the treaty relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
Invitation to Indigenous Artisans
FREE! Promote your websites and your social media platforms used to showcase and sell your handmade crafts. Opportunity to be listed on our website open from October 27 to December 17 2021.
First National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Circles for Reconciliation (CFR) is honouring the first "National Day for Truth and Reconciliation" as a non-profit organization as a Statutory Holiday under Bill C-5 that achieved Royal Assent on June 3rd, 2021. The Act creates a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a statutory holiday that will commemorate the victims and survivors of the Indian Residential Schools and will be observed on September 30th moving forward. CFR recognizes September 30th as a mourning day to honour the sacred ones and survivors of the Indian Residential Schools and we encourage organizations and others to do the same. Guided Tour…
Honouring the Sacred Ones
We have planted a beautiful circle of flowers to remember the many children who have lost their lives at residential schools. Circles held a gathering of staff and volunteers with...... to mark our Carefully bordered with stones and highlighted with a hand lettered sign in the Dakota language, this garden will continue to bloom and thrive for many years. The unfolding story of the building and planting of the garden is described more fully at this link.
Canadian History Uncovered
On May 30th, 2021, many Canadians woke up to a new reality for them. The Canada they knew had changed. What happened was the horrendous discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops Residential School. This was not news to the Indigenous people. The long oral history by Indigenous people had told this story for years, and six years ago the TRC has reported on the existence of such unmarked graves of Indigenous children, and stated there were many more not yet discovered. That day, what had been Indigenous history became Canadian history. The news of the findings changed Canada.…
Announcing #94in94
In response to the recent discoveries in Kamloops and Brandon, Reconciliation Thunder and Circles for Reconciliation are launching an awareness campaign to help center conversations on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action. For each of the 94 days before Orange Shirt Day (September 30, 2021) each of the 94 Calls to Action will be shared on social media in hopes that one day every Canadian will have read the and have chosen at least one to act on. View the campaign landing page!
A Canadian Genocide
You likely have heard about the discovery of the remains of 215 children at the Kamloops Residential School in late May 2021. This discovery is on top of the documented more than 4,100 children previously identified by the TRC’s Missing Children’s Project. Some of the remains are of children as young as three years old. Circles for Reconciliation acknowledges these findings and recognizes they are not simply rumours. This is a horrible legacy of our Canadian past. This heartbreaking news is too familiar for many Indigenous families across Canada. Waves of grief continue to flow through many of our Indigenous…
Theodore Fontaine: A Remarkable Elder
Theodore Fontaine died on May 10, 2021. He was an Elder with wisdom, compassion, forgiveness, humility, fearlessness in telling the truth of the past, all coming from a deep sense of pride in who he was and his people. His book, “Broken Circle, The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools” is a remarkable memoir of his years in the Fort Alexander Indian Residential School, from 1948-1958 and the Assiniboia Indian Residential School from 1958-1960. For years, he supported survivors and spoke about reconciliation with those who were perpetrators of his abuse. Theodore was also a friend and advisor to Circles…
Thomas Berger
Our video tribute to the life and work of a true Canadian hero, Thomas Berger, who died on May 11 2021. In honouring the life of Thomas Berger, the honourable Murray Sinclair describes how Thomas Berger inspired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada to follow his model of going to the people. The TRC interviewed over 6,000 people as it crisscrossed the country. YouTube video link
National Group of Sharing Circles Thriving Online During Pandemic
Brittany Hobson of APTN News interviews Raymond Currie, Grace Schedler and facilitator Tammy Cadue for her article about Circles for Reconciliation. Read it at this link.