The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day is coming up on Monday, September 30.
Wearing an orange shirt is an Indigenous-led commemorative gesture to honour the children and families who were subjected to the disgraceful residential school system. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) concluded that residential schools were “a systematic, government- sponsored attempt to destroy Aboriginal cultures and languages and to assimilate Aboriginal peoples so that they no longer existed as distinct peoples.” The TRC characterized this intent as “cultural genocide.” We encourage you to take time this month with your loved ones to learn more about Canada's shameful treatment of its first peoples. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation's education resoures can be found HERE.
As members of the legal community, we are especially mindful of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action 25 to 42 which relate to Justice. In particular:
27. We call upon the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to ensure that lawyers receive appropriate cultural competency training, which includes the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.
There are many resources for lawyers to work on their cultural competency. We encourage our colleagues to access these resources, such as those that the Ontario Bar Association has made available to its members HERE.
Members of our firm will be attending the LSO’s virtual annual event for Truth and Reconciliation on September 19, 2024.
Our post is early this year in order to encourage you to support the Indigenous Law Student Governance (ILSG) at the University of Ottawa. ILSG has unique orange t-shirts available in inclusive sizing from youth size small to adult 4X. We encourage you to check out the selected design and support the ILSG: https://www.uottawa.ca/faculty-law/common-law/news/young-indigenous-artist-brings-new-meaning-orange-shirt.
We will learn our history, recognizing that the damage inflicted by Residential Schools continues to this day.