The Yukon Human Rights Commission encourages everyone to attend the meetings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission being held in Whitehorse at the Kwanlin Dun First Nation Cultural Centre on Jan. 14 and 15.
This historic event is being co-hosted by the Council of Yukon First Nations and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission with a generous invitation to any and all of us who wish to attend. The Yukon meetings are an important opportunity to listen, learn about and understand the impact of Indian residential schools and the harm they caused to aboriginal children, their parents and families, their communities and our territory and its people.
The mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission comes from “an emerging and compelling desire to put the events of the past behind us so that we can work towards a stronger and healthier future. The truth telling and reconciliation process as part of an overall holistic and comprehensive response to the Indian residential school legacy is a sincere indication and acknowledgement of the injustices and harms experienced by aboriginal people and the need for continued healing.”
The Indian residential school system was a gross and systemic violation of the human rights and dignity of First Nation, Inuit and Metis people with intergenerational consequences still with us today. The Yukon Human Rights Commission believes we all have a responsibility to educate ourselves about the Indian residential school system and its ongoing effects.
You can learn more about the truth-telling and reconciliation process at www.trc.ca or by calling 1-888-872-5554.
Fia Jampolsky, chair
Yukon Human Rights Commission