91快色

It takes enormous strength for individuals to share their personal, often traumatic, stories of abuse endured at the hands of Canada鈥檚 residential school system, an arm of colonialization and a tool for forced assimilation. Many 惭茅迟颈蝉 people living in Alberta today are survivors of the residential school system and have taken on the burden of sharing their stories to ensure the cruelty and abuse suffered by the children forced to attend will never be forgotten.

In honour of 惭茅迟颈蝉 Week, Nov. 14 to 20, 2022, the 91快色鈥檚 Office of Indigenous Engagement invites the community to listen to the voices of four remarkable Alberta 惭茅迟颈蝉 women as they lead a panel discussion on the book and impressive educational mural project titled, . Billie-Jo Grant and Yvonne Poitras Pratt will join the book鈥檚 co-author, Jude Daniels, and Elder Angie Crerar for a webinar that will stream noon to 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 14.

Drawing inspiration from the book, the mural project is a collection of stories from 惭茅迟颈蝉 survivors of the Alberta residential school system. The book was co-authored by Jude Daniels and published in 2004 by the 惭茅迟颈蝉 Nation of Alberta. In its introduction, Daniels describes the voices of 惭茅迟颈蝉 people as their most compelling tool: 鈥淰oices that had been silenced, month after month, year after year, by the ugliness of cultural genocide perpetuated through the Indian Residential Schools.鈥�

We are privileged to welcome two 惭茅迟颈蝉 Elders for this event. Elder Kerrie Moore will help us begin in a good way with a blessing and thoughts for reflection. Elder Angie Crerar has been invited to share her work on the collaborative 惭茅迟颈蝉 mural project that now lives in the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. This educational, interactive art, which was co-created by Elder Crerar, Daniels, Grant and Pratt, can also .

As one of three distinct Indigenous peoples recognized in Canada, the 惭茅迟颈蝉 鈥� according to the 惭茅迟颈蝉 Nation of Alberta 鈥� are 鈥渁 post-contact Indigenous nation, born from the unions of European fur traders and First Nations women in the 18th century鈥� with a distinct culture, collective consciousness, and strong Nationhood in the Northwest.

The educational experiences of 惭茅迟颈蝉 children who attended residential schools varied wildly; some were forced to attend through various measures of apprehension, many attended for 10 or 12 years, and some attended for only a few years. Few received little more than a second-grade education.

Daniels and her co-authors interviewed dozens of 惭茅迟颈蝉 survivors 鈥� many of whom recall their traumatic experiences in striking detail, decades later. The co-creators of the project chose to honour 惭茅迟颈蝉 survivors and storytellers by preserving the words they shared without analysis or editing, wherever possible.

For people whose history has been distorted and rewritten by oppressors, voice is a powerful medium. Shawna Cunningham, director, Indigenous Strategy, says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 important for educational institutions to provide a platform for the voices of First Nation, 惭茅迟颈蝉 and Inuit residential school survivors.鈥�

Cunningham notes, 鈥淭hese stories are a form of truthing, demonstrating Indigenous resilience. They are a gift for future generations to better understand our individual and collective responsibility towards reconciliation.鈥�

Register to attend

Nov. 14, 2022 
noon 鈥� 1:30 p.m.
 

About the speakers

Jude Daniels, co-author of 惭茅迟颈蝉 Memories of Residential School, has been a corporate legal counsel in the oil and gas sector and Aboriginal consultation adviser since 1998. She is a semi-retired lawyer, former social worker, mediator and yoga instructor. Daniels is a proud member of the 惭茅迟颈蝉 Nation of Alberta, the Indigenous Bar Association and the Law Society of Alberta.

Billie-Jo Grant is a proud citizen of the 惭茅迟颈蝉 Nation of Alberta and an award-winning educator with more than 20 years of classroom experience teaching K-9 students in both public and Catholic school classrooms. Formerly the associate director of 惭茅迟颈蝉 education with Rupertsland Institute, Grant is currently the Indigenous consultant with Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools.

Yvonne Poitras Pratt (惭茅迟颈蝉) is an associate professor with the Werklund School of Education at the 91快色. Her ancestral roots trace back to the historic Red River settlement and more recently to Fishing Lake 惭茅迟颈蝉 Settlement in northeastern Alberta. Pratt is an award-winning educator who has been published in the realms of social justice, media studies, 惭茅迟颈蝉 studies, reconciliatory pedagogy, service-learning and the integration of arts in education.

Angie Crerar is a 惭茅迟颈蝉 Elder from Grande Prairie, Alta. She is a born leader devoted to enriching the lives of her people, involved with the provincial Elders Wisdom Circle, the Social Housing Community Advisory Board, the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women, National Aboriginal Day, and Canadian Red Cross fundraising activities.