Saugeen District Senior School has unveiled a new Reconciliation Hall.
The school’s reconciliation team recently showed off the new dedicated space built in response to a Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Call to Action for the building of student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy and mutual respect, according to a release.
A virtual assembly was called on Oct. 20, and featured various guests and contributors including those from Saugeen First Nation and the SDSS and Bluewater District School Board,for the unveiling of the new hall.
The hall features a museum-style display and information, as well as a grand table around a collaborative art piece from Treaty Week in 2019.
With the assistance of Reed Bedard, a student in the off-site construction Ppogram, a display case was outfitted with banners showing the history of Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON). It includes a glossary of terminology on the back.
The banners include illustrations of the Saugeen Ojibway National Traditional Territory, copies of Treaty 45 1/2 and 72 which were understood by Indigenous peoples as agreements to share the land, a map of “Saukiing Anishnaabekiing: Saugeen Ojibway Nation Treaties”, and biographies of contributing artists.
At the base of the display sit works by local Indigenous artists, including a quill box made of porcupine quills, birchbark and sweetgrass.
A deer hide and ash drum and a copy of Gord Downie and Jeff Lemire’s graphic novel “Secret Path” are also featured in the display case.
Reconciliation Hall Art Piece Displayed at Saugeen District Senior School. (Photo provided by Nancie Darlington Smith)
A substantial oak table, which was built by three off-site construction technology students under the guidance of accomplished Saugeen First Nation community member Emily Kewageshig, is also situated in hall.
The traditional practice of smudging and offering a blessing was given by Elder Shirley John at the unveiling, who cleansed the space with a prayer to the four directions.
“In Saugeen, there’s only six of us left that survived residential school,” says Elder John. “I am so happy in my mind, and my heart, and my spirit that we have this. We have a lot of history here. It is much appreciated.”
Elder Lori Kewaquom, Saugeen Advocacy for Healing Program Coordinator added, the definition of reconciliation is the return to a harmonious relationship.
“We never had a harmonious relationship. So, for me, we need to learn reconciliation’s. But we have to learn that within ourselves first – each individual person – before we can being that journey with somebody else,” says Elder Kewaquom.
Elder Kewaquom’s message called for healing for all and not just for the Anishnaabe people.
“For us as Anishnaabe people, because of the disconnections that happened we need to find our identity that was taken away. That was taken away from us. We were told that who we were was not a good thing. And they went through children to do that. They knew what they were doing. It was a plan. So, what we need to do now is to protect our children. Protect our children and give them back their identity of culture, as much as we can that language because the language is in crisis. A lot of our people that were language carriers are now gone. So we just have to do the best that we can and not feel bad about it. Because it is not our fault,” says Elder Kewaquom.
The release notes, the virtual assembly and unveiling of the hall received motivation through words said by the Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Murray Sinclair, who says, as long as our hearts are aimed in the right direction and we’re moving in the right way, we will get there. Also suggesting the need to recognize and celebrate Indigenous values, contributions and successes.
Sinclair calls on all Canadians to demonstrate the same level of courage and determination as the Survivors of Canada’s Residential School System, as they continue an ongoing process of reconciliation.
“By establishing a new and respectful relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians, we will restore what must be restored, repair what must be repaired, and return what must be returned,” says Sinclair.
