Dear colleagues,
We are writing to invite you and your students to join us this Fall in a durational reading of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report (TRC). In the wake of the horrific revelations of unmarked grave sites, and with more still likely to emerge, we feel that it is necessary that we read the TRC together. We have also heard the call from many Indigenous groups, including Native Earth Performing Arts, for white/non-Indigenous/settler Canadians to read the TRC.
By committing to reading the TRC (Executive Summary) over a series of weeks this Fall, we seek to deepen our understanding of how the residential school system perpetuated the genocide of Indigenous peoples across Canada. In this, we draw inspiration from projects such as the TRC Reading Challenge and Theatre Passe Muraille’s reading of the TRC this summer. By joining together as a community of theatre educators and students, we hope that the shared experience of reading aloud and reflecting on the knowledge shared in the report will give us a strong base of understanding to respectfully work together in the future.
How will this work?
When and how you read the TRC report with your colleagues and students is up to you. Each of us is working with our home departments to organize a weekly one session to read and reflect on the TRC over the Fall semester and into the Winter if necessary. These readings will take place over Zoom and will welcome potentially the entire university community. Our hope is that some form of reading will take place every day across the country. In the event that individuals and groups want to take part in the reading but cannot, there are many other ways to take action, including pledging funds to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS).
If this is something you and your colleagues would like to do, please let us know by filling out this google form. Details will follow about when and how you can sign up for specific reading time slots.
Best wishes to all as you prepare for the busy year ahead.
Sincerely,
Selena Couture
Katherine Zien
Marlis Schweitzer
Kim Solga
Natalie Alvarez