Powerful events mark close of Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Ottawa
(Toronto, ON) – KAIROS Canada invites everyone to be part of a series of powerful events leading up to and complementing the close of the historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). KAIROS’ Time for Reconciliation intergenerational gathering will feature leading thinkers on Indigenous rights and interactive workshops on May 29, May 30 and June 1 at Carleton University and Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa.
On June 1 at 5:30 p.m. on Parliament Hill, KAIROS will participate in a highly visual mass Blanket Exercise, organized by the Assembly of Seven Generations. KAIROS is also an organizer of the Honouring Memories, Planting Dreams Ceremony where 500 children will join residential school survivors in planting hearts in a Heart Garden at Rideau Hall at noon on June 3 after the ceremonial close of the TRC.
KAIROS’ Time for Reconciliation
WHAT Intergenerational gathering that includes a plenary session on the theme: Recognition and Reconciliation
WHEN Friday, May 29, 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Media interviews with speakers: 6:30 to 7:00 p.m.
WHERE Carleton University, Residence Lounge. Map.
WHO Jennifer Henry, Executive Director, KAIROS Canada
Gabrielle Fayant, moderator
Access the biographies of these speakers:
Mike Cachagee, Former President, National Residential Schools Survivor Society
Marie Wilson, Commissioner, TRC
Jah’Kota, Artist, Musician, Founder Un1ty Entertainment
WHAT Intergenerational gathering that includes a plenary session and interactive workshops on the theme: Decolonization.
WHEN Saturday, May 30; 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Media interviews with speakers: 8:30 – 9:00 a.m. in the Residence Lounge at Carleton University
WHERE Carleton University, Residence Lounge (plenary session) and St. Patrick Building (workshops). Map.
WHO Jennifer Henry, Executive Director, KAIROS Canada
Pam Peters-Pries, moderator
Access the biographies of these speakers:
Ellen Gabriel, Turtle Clan, Kanien’kehá:ka Nation from Kanehsatà:ke, Human Rights Activist
Mark Macdonald, National Indigenous Anglican Bishop
Erica Violet Lee, Nehiyaw (Plains Cree), 2013 Iris Marion Young Diversity Scholar
WHAT Intergenerational gathering that includes a plenary session and interactive workshops on the theme: Honouring Indigenous Rights.
WHEN Monday, June 1; 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Media interviews with speakers: 8:30 – 9:00 a.m.
WHERE Christ Church Cathedral, 439 Queen Street, Ottawa.
WHO Jennifer Henry, Executive Director, KAIROS Canada
Jim Hodgson, moderator
Access the biographies of these speakers:
Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director, First Nations Child and Family Caring Society
Ana Guadalupe Matzir Miculax, Maya Kaqchikel, Guatemala, KAIROS partner CEIBA
Widia Lariviere, Youth Coordinator, Quebec Native Women
Mass Blanket Exercise at Parliament Hill
WHAT Mass Blanket Exercise – visual interactive history lesson told from the point of view of Indigenous peoples in Canada. This will be organized by the Assembly of Seven Generations. The Blanket Exercise was developed in 1997 by the ecumenical Aboriginal Rights Coalition, one of the coalitions that became part of KAIROS in 2001. It is KAIROS’ most popular teaching tool and has been led hundreds of time with thousands of people in churches, schools and community centres from coast-to-coast. To see the Blanket Exercise in action, watch this short video.
WHEN Monday, June 1; 5:30 p.m.
Media interviews with speakers: 5:00 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Parliament Hill
WHO Jennifer Henry, Executive Director, KAIROS Canada
Ed Bianchi, Programs Manager, KAIROS Canada
Gabrielle Fayant, Co-founder, Assembly of Seven Generations
Heart Garden: Honouring Memories, Planting Dreams Ceremony
WHAT Honouring Memories, Planting Dreams Ceremony. As a tribute to all students of the Indian Residential Schools and their families, 500 children from the Ottawa-Gatineau area will join residential school survivors in creating a Heart Garden at Rideau Hall, the Governor General’s residence, by planting hearts with messages of reconciliation from across Canada. Each child will carry two hearts attached to wooden gardening stakes. They will plant one heart in a Heart Garden at Rideau Hall and they will share the other with an adult attending the formal closing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Following a brief ceremony, a rendition of ‘Sing’ by the Ottawa Catholic School Board Children’s Choir, and the planting of the hearts, the children will lead a procession away from Rideau Hall to symbolize that children will lead us towards a future of reconciliation. This is a joint initiative with KAIROS, the TRC, Project of Heart, and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society. Similar Heart Garden ceremonies are planned at churches and in communities across the country from May 31 to June 3.
WHEN Wednesday, June 3; noon to 1:30 pm
Media interviews with speakers: 11:15 to noon
WHERE Rideau Hall, 1 Sussex Drive, Ottawa
WHO Jennifer Henry, Executive Director, KAIROS Canada
Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.
Charlene Bearhead, National Coordinator, Project of Heart
Marie Wilson, TRC Commissioner
For more details visit: kairoscanada.org/events/time4reconciliation/hearts-gardens
About KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
KAIROS is a faith-based social justice organization of eleven Canadian churches and religious organizations. It focuses on Indigenous rights, international human rights and ecological justice. We deliberate on issues of common concern, advocate for social change and join with people of faith and goodwill in action for social transformation. To learn more, visit kairoscanada.org.
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Media Contact:
Cheryl McNamara Ed Bianchi
Media Coordinator Programs Manager
877-403-8933 x 246 613-235-9956
416-875-0097 (mobile) 613-799-1995 (mobile)
