Statement from Mikinakoos Children’s Fund for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Mikinakoos Children’s Fund has released the following statement in advance of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

 

There is no doubt that First Nations and Indigenous Peoples throughout this land face severe socioeconomic challenges that are a direct result of the residential schools system and colonization. Mikinakoos Children’s Fund works to address these issues by providing food and ​essential items like warm winter clothing to Indigenous children in remote regions of Northwestern Ontario.

 

On the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we hope everyone on this land, regardless of religion, race, or creed, and regardless of when they arrived here, will reflect on the legacy of colonization and the residential school system. Indigenous children were removed from their homes, communities and ways of life, and the legacy of that is still being felt today. It is the reason organizations like ours are required.

 

Our hope is that people from coast to coast to coast will demand that political leaders at all levels address these issues and do their part to immediately implement the Calls to Action outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

 

We call on all Canadians to take this important day to reflect, read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, and ask yourself what you can do. It is not comfortable work, but it is necessary.