The National Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
The National Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
September 23 – 27, 2024
Open to the Public
We invite you to join our daily Lunch and Learn webinars – an immersive experience to UN-learn the myths of colonial history in Canada.
Lunch and Learn sessions are aimed at an adult audience, and open to the public, and will be hosted virtually over Zoom Webinar and streamed to YouTube.
Expert matter speakers will present for 40-50 minutes before a Q&A between the moderator and guest(s).
All sessions will have simultaneous English-French, and ASL interpretation.
Truth and Reconciliation Week daily Lunch and Learn webinars are presented with the gracious support of Enbridge and the Canadian Public Health Association.
Monday, September 23
1:00pm EDT
Health related impacts of the residential school system.
English with French and ASL interpretation.
Speakers Kathy Pompana and Dr. Maureen Lux will discuss the harms caused by the residential school system and the segregated health care system known as Indian Hospitals and their modern-day impacts for Indigenous health. Audience members will come away with an understanding of the link between these colonial systems and how they contributed to mistrust of the health care system. Moderated by Lauren Pelley.
Tuesday, September 24
1:00pm EDT
Allyship and confronting unconscious bias.
English with French and ASL interpretation.
Dr. Cary Miller and Residential School Survivor Lila Bruyere will take a hard look at how unconscious bias is still present in societal systems and attitudes today and what can be done to confront and change it. Audience members will come away with knowledge on how to dismantle our biases and support true allyship. Moderated by Andrea Ménard.
Wednesday, September 25
1:00pm EDT
Impacts and addressing Indigenous identity fraud.
English with French and ASL interpretation.
Speakers Michelle Cyca and Residential School Survivor Dickie Yuzicapi will examine the issue of Indigenous identity fraud and unpack the practice of “pretendianism” and its harmful impacts. Audience members will come away with an understanding of the reach and impact of identity fraud and what can be done to address it.
Thursday, September 26
1:00pm EDT
A community perspective of United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
English with French and ASL interpretation.
Speakers Marilyn Buffalo and Megan Lewis will discuss the journey of Canada’s endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the significance of this milestone, and its potential to reshape the Crown-Indigenous relationship. Audience members will come away with knowledge of the progress made and information on how to overcome resistance to the Declaration. Moderated by Sherri Helgason.
Friday, September 27
1:00pm EDT
How do we address the barriers to reconciliation?
English with French and ASL interpretation.
Dr. Eva Jewell and Residential School Survivor Levinia Brown will shed light on the biggest barriers to Reconciliation, the lack of progress made on the TRC’s Calls to Action, and what Canadians need to do to keep moving forward and enact change. Audience members will come away with an understanding of what is preventing progress and how as individuals we can take responsibility for Reconciliation. Moderated by Cole Kippenhuck.
Governments of: Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland & Labrador, New Brunswick
Hours: 8.30AM–4.30PM, Monday – Friday
Chancellor’s Hall, 177 Dysart Road
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2
Marilyn Buffalo
Marilyn Buffalo was born and raised on Samson Cree Nation. She is 74 years old and brings mature, experienced leadership and is a recognized voice in many circles. She has over 55 years of community development experience in northern isolated, urban and rural Indigenous communities and internationally. That work has taken her into political, social, health and economic affairs; dealing with education, adult literacy, employment and training, language rights, sports and recreation, justice, law, veterans, women, child welfare, youth and elders’ rights, land rights, economic and business development. Marilyn has sought justice for residential school survivors for decades. Her current focus is on the educational and cultural developmental needs of Indigenous women, children and youth.
Marilyn served as President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada from 1997 to 2000.
Phyllis Webstad
Phyllis Webstad is Northern Secwpemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation (Canoe Creek Indian Band). She comes from mixed Secwepemc and Irish/French heritage, was born in Dog Creek, and lives in Williams Lake, BC. Today, Phyllis is married, has one son, a step-son and five grandchildren. She is the Executive Director of the Orange Shirt Society, and tours the country telling her story and raising awareness about the impacts of the residential school system. She has now published two books, the “Orange Shirt Story” and “Phyllis’s Orange Shirt” for younger children.
She earned diplomas in Business Administration from the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology; and in Accounting from Thompson Rivers University. Phyllis received the 2017 TRU Distinguished Alumni Award for her unprecedented impact on local, provincial, national and international communities through the sharing of her orange shirt story.
Nicolas McCarthy
Director of Marketing, Communications and Community Outreach (Media Contact) Nicolas (Nick) McCarthy joined Beechwood as the Director of Marketing, Communications and Community Outreach in February 2017.
Nick has decades of strategic communications experience working in private, public and not-for-profit sectors. Prior to joining Beechwood, Nick was employed as the Director of Communication with the Association of Justice Counsel. Nick began his career in various federal government departments and agencies and then moved to the Not-For-Profit sector. Born and raised in Ottawa, Nick studied at the University of Ottawa, receiving his Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and French Literature.
Nick is married to Carolyn and is the proud but busy father of two daughters, Imogen and Quinn. When not spending time with his family, Nick enjoys reading books about world history and politics.
Nick is also a member of the Latin American Soldiers Committee, the Global Irish Famine Way – Bytown Ottawa Division, the Ottawa Police Veterans Association Charity Golf Tournament Committee, the Ottawa Police Service Gala Committee, and the Ontario Regional Coordinator for No Stone Left Alone.
Dorene Bernard
Kesatum tan teli L’nuwey, Kiwnik Clan, Sipekne’katik, Mi’kmaki, resides in Indian Brook, N.S. She is the mother of 4 children and grandmother of 10 beautiful grandchildren. She is a Survivor of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, the 3rd generation to attend within her family.
Dorene earned a BSW Degree at Dalhousie University in 1991, and her MSW in Indigenous Field of Study at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University in 2013. She coordinates the Indian Residential School Legacy Project at Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre, to remember and honor the Shubenacadie Indian Residential survivors and families in the Atlantic region who attended this institution and document the history and Indian Residential School Legacy and the children who never came home.
Xan Choquet
Xan Choquet is a Pekuakamiulnu (Innu from Lac-Saint-Jean). He is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Action with a concentration in Native Studies at UQAM. In the near future, he will also begin a master’s degree in political science, with a focus on the links between nehlueun, the Ilnu language, ilnu-aitun, the Ilnu way of life and the protection of Nutshimit and Nitassinan, the forest and territory of the Ilnuatsh.
Education about the different native cultures here, as well as the different issues that affect them, is very important to him. He learns more and more every day through his studies, his activism and his contacts with his community and with people from other aboriginal communities. For him, it’s essential to make the voices and talents of indigenous people heard, and to raise awareness among non-indigenous of various issues they might not otherwise be aware of.
Cole Kippenhuck
Cole Kippenhuck (they/them) is a Two Spirit Inuk Labradorian with 20+ years experience in the community sector including nonprofits, consulting, and government work. They are the owner of Crow Kinship Consulting, a life coach, and an advocate for reconciliation, queer rights, and social justice issues.
As a knowledge keeper, Cole holds ceremony, protects land, and walks in a spiritual way. They are fluid in their sexuality, gender, and relationships as an act of decolonization.
Levinia Brown
Levinia Brown is an Inuit Survivor from Rankin Inlet. In 1978, Levinia Brown received her certification as a Northwest Territories Classroom Assistant and was instrumental in establishing an eastern board program (EATEP) in Iqaluit, and in 1980 she became the first chairperson of the Keewatin Regional Education Authority. After serving as an information officer, chairperson of the local housing authority, and deputy mayor, Levinia Brown became the first woman mayor of Rankin Inlet.
Levinia also served as the Elected Member for Rankin Inlet South/Whale Cove. On February 16, 2004, the Honourable Levinia Brown was selected by MLAs to sit on the Executive Council. On March 9, 2004, Premier Paul Okalik named Ms. Brown Deputy Premier.
Dedicating her life to the development and promotion of community capacity building for health and social services, she projects a positive outlook on life. Her belief that life is a precious opportunity that should not be wasted is clearly expressed in her thirst for education, strength in leadership, and compassion for social issues.
Levinia Brown is married to Ron Brown. Together, they have 7 children and 3 custom adopted children.
Eva Jewell
Dr. Eva Jewell is Anishinaabekwe from Deshkan Ziibiing (Chippewas of the Thames First Nation) in southwestern Ontario with Haudenosaunee lineage. Dr. Jewell holds a BA from the Institute of American Indian Arts, an MA from University of Victoria, and a Doctor of Social Sciences from Royal Roads University. She is an Assistant Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University co-author of the Yellowhead Institute’s yearly “Calls to Action Accountability: A Status Update on Reconciliation” reports. Her scholarship supports community-led inquiry on topics of language, governance, and cultural resurgence amongst Anishinaabeg people.
Ovide Mercredi
Ovide Mercredi is a Cree, born in the northern community of Grand Rapids, Manitoba in 1946. He served his community as Chief of Misipawistik Cree Nation from 2005 to 2011 and acted as a councillor for three years after his term as Chief.
A graduate of the University of Manitoba’s Robson Hall Faculty of Law in 1977, he practiced criminal law and later specialized in constitutional law as an advisor to Manitoba Chiefs. Ovide Mercredi became a national and international leader in advocating for Indigenous peoples’ rights.
In 1989, Ovide was elected Regional Chief of the Assembly of First Nations for Manitoba as well as appointed a member of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission. He became a key strategist for the Assembly during the time of the Meech Lake Accord constitutional reform discussions. Ovide has always advocated for non-violent methods to resolve conflict and he had an active role in negotiations in Oka, Gustafson Lake, Ipperwash and Burnt Church.
On June 12, 1991, Ovide was elected National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, a role which he held for two terms from 1991 to 1997, where he represented a diverse group of people who embraced differing traditions and at times, represented conflicting interests. During his first term, he led the negotiations for the First Nations in the Charlottetown Accord. In his efforts to find consensus for policies and to foster unity, he spent much of his time traveling across Canada to meet people and to learn firsthand of their difficulties.
He became the first chancellor of Manitoba’s University College of the North in 2007. He was selected in a traditional manner to be the National Spokesperson for Treaties 1 to 11 which he led from 2006 to 2014. For his work as an advocate of non-violent methods for change, he has been nominated by the Government of India for the Gandhi Peace Prize. He served on the board of the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
Among his many honours and awards are; Order of Canada, 2021, the Order of Manitoba in 2005 and honorary degrees from Bishop’s University, St. Mary’s University, Lethbridge University, Athabasca University, the Law Society of Ontario and the University of Manitoba.
Ovide is the author of My Silent Drum, a book of poetry and enjoys golfing.
Megan Lewis
Megan Lewis is a young, queer, mixed Kanien’keha:ka woman and member of Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory currently residing in Ottawa, Ontario. With a BA in Child and Youth Care, and an MA in Public Policy and Administration, she has developed a passion for the advocacy of Indigenous people and communities through education. Currently, as the Director of the Centre for Indigenous Policy and Research at Indigenous Youth Roots she focuses on engaging Indigenous youth in policy and research by creating more accessible spaces to create and advocate for impactful change.
Megan also sits on the external advisory committee for the forthcoming School of Public Policy and Democratic Innovation at Toronto Metropolitan University. Having held various roles both on the frontlines and in government over the years, she continues to strive to make connections between policy and practice. In February 2020 she launched a small beadwork business called Pine and Needle Designs as a way to express herself through a creative, and meaningful medium. In her spare time, you can find her spending time beading and hiking, ideally by the water.
Michelle Good
Michelle Good is a Cree writer and a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. After working for Indigenous organizations for twenty-five years, she obtained a law degree and advocated for residential school survivors for over fourteen years. Good earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia while still practising law and managing her own law firm.
Five Little Indians, her first novel, won the HarperCollins/UBC Best New Fiction Prize, the Amazon First Novel Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Award, the Evergreen Award, the City of Vancouver Book of the Year Award, and Canada Reads 2022. It was also longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and a finalist for the Writer’s Trust Award, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes. On October 7, 2022 Simon Fraser University granted her an Honorary Doctor of Letters.
Dickie Yuzicapi
Francis comes from a culturally diverse heritage which represents the majority of the Plains cultures found in Saskatchewan to this day: Ojibway, Cree, Metis, and Dakota. Dickie is unique in that he was raised by his great-grandparents who taught him traditional teachings before attending residential school. Dickie is a Survivor, and a multi-generational trauma Survivor. Dickie is currently the owner and chef of the Sioux Chef Catering Company and consults on all facets of indigenous culture.
He is a master storyteller and experienced speaker who can provide his own ancestral context and historical connections in ways that bring the Truth and Reconciliation recommendations to practical reality. His workshops are led with great care to his family’s stories and to all participants’ level of Reconciliation. It is about creating understanding with care to lay the groundwork for what needs to be done to heal.
Michelle Cyca
Michelle Cyca is a journalist living in Vancouver and a member of Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6. She is currently a senior editor at The Narwhal and a contributing writer to The Walrus. Her reporting, essays and literary criticism can be found in The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, IndigiNews, Quill & Quire and The Tyee, among other publications.
Her feature story The Curious Case of Gina Adams received the Gold Medal for Investigative Journalism and the Silver Medal for Long-Form Feature at the 2023 National Magazine Awards, and was a finalist for the Canadian Association of Journalists awards.
Andrea Ménard
Andrea Menard, LLB, LLM (DR) is a Métis legal scholar from the Red River Settlement. She is a sessional law instructor at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law, where she teaches “Reconciliation and Lawyers,” and at Osgoode Hall Law School, where her course is “In Search of Reconciliation Through Dispute Resolution.”
Additionally, she is the Lead Educational Developer for Indigenizing Curricula and Pedagogies at the University of Alberta’s Centre for Teaching and Learning. Menard was named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers of 2022 by Canadian Lawyer Magazine, an honour reflecting her commitment to partnering with Indigenous nations across Treaties 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10, and on the unceded lands of what is currently called British Columbia.
Lila Bruyere
Boozhoo! My name is Lila Bruyere. I come from Couchiching First Nation located on Treaty #3 Territory. My spirit name is Dancing Eagle Woman, I am Bear Clan, a pipe carrier and a retired jingle dress dancer. I am a mother, a grandmother and a great grandmother. I am also a sister, an auntie, a cousin and an educator.
I am a second-generation residential school survivor to St. Margaret’s Residential School in Fort Frances, Ontario. My son and I attended Wilfrid Laurier University and we developed a workshop titled “Intergenerational: A Mother & Son’s Healing Journey”.
I have recently spent a three-year term being a member of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s (NCTR’S) Survivors’ Circle. My goal is to continue being a voice for those who remain silent. Miigwetch!
Dr. Cary Miller
Dr. Miller is an Anishinaabe 60’s Scoop survivor who descends from St. Croix and Leech Lake communities in Wisconsin and Minnesota. She is currently the Associate Vice-President (Indigenous), Scholarship, Research and Curriculum, and an Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Miller has transformed Indigenous scholarship, education, success, governance, research and reconciliation at post-secondary institutions for more than 30 years.
Lauren Pelley
Lauren Pelley is a Senior Health and Medical Reporter at CBC News. She brings empathy and critical thinking to every story she covers, and has a particular interest in infectious diseases, pandemic preparedness, and the intersection between health and climate change. Pelley’s CBC article Mistreated: The legacy of segregated hospitals haunts Indigenous survivors featured the stories of two “Indian Hospitals” survivors.
Dr. Maureen Lux
Dr. Maureen K. Lux teaches Canadian history, history of Indigenous-government relations, and social history of medicine at Brock University.
In her book Separate Beds: A History of Indian Hospitals in Canada, 1920s – 1980s, she describes the arbitrary and contradictory policies that governed the “Indian Hospitals,” the experiences of patients and staff, and the vital grassroots activism that pressed the federal government to acknowledge its treaty obligations, tracing the history of the system from its fragmentary origins to its gradual collapse.
Kathy Pompana
Kathy Pompana is from the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation in Manitoba but was born and raised in London Ontario. She moved to Brandon Manitoba in 2000 to attend Brandon University. Soon after leaving B.U. She became an Aboriginal Liaison Officer in a Federal Penitentiary where she began working with the Residential School Survivors who were incarcerated there.
In 2012 Kathy left the penitentiary to carry on working with Residential School Survivors in the community. She is currently the Assistant Executive Director, Senior Resolution Health Support Worker, and Knowledge Keeper with Anish Healing Centre where she provides emotional, mental health, and cultural support services to Indian Residential School, Day School, 60’s Scoop, and Intergenerational survivors, as well as MMIWG2S+ family members. Kathy has acquired many certificates and diplomas focusing on the effects of trauma, and trauma recovery.
