Archive for July 2017

Spirited Reflection: Paper Dolls and the United Nations World Day against Trafficking in Persons – July 30

July 24, 2017

In 2007, my workplace registered me to attend a conference on the topic of human trafficking.  At that time, human trafficking was barely being talked about in the media.  It had been declared a criminal offense in Canada only two…

Post filed in: Spirited Reflections

Seeds of Truth: The Value of Traditional Crafts

July 20, 2017

I have the privilege of being one of the participants of the KAIROS Guatemala Youth Exchange, and it has been an amazing experience so far. I am a settler living in unceded Mi’kmaq territory under the Peace and Friendship treaties…

Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Latin America

The history of Indigenous Peoples as told through blankets

July 17, 2017

The history of Indigenous peoples on the northern part of Turtle Island, what is now known as Canada, was told through a Kairo Blanket Exercise at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Southampton on June 21. Reverend Graham Bland of St….

Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Latin America

Spirited Reflection: Spiritual Validity

July 12, 2017

The erroneous mainstream view of Indigenous peoples as being one indistinguishable group across North America with misguided and superstitious spiritual beliefs is summed up in the term Indian. When the damage done to Indigenous cultures by the reservation system, the…

Post filed in: Spirited Reflections

Seeds of Truth: The KAIROS Blanket Exercise through Guatemalan eyes

July 10, 2017

Excerpts from an Interview with Lilian Bolvito Gonzalez on Radio Canada International, June 24, 2017 Radio Canada: We will now chat with a Guatemalan youth who participated in the Blanket Exercise on June 2 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Her name…

Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Latin America

How we can start to walk the path of reconciliation?

July 7, 2017

On July 1, hundreds of new citizens swore their allegiance to this country and promised to faithfully observe its laws. Unlike me, they received a very brief overview of the history of Indigenous peoples. Like me, they did not promise…

Post filed in: Migrant Justice