From the Coordinator
You might be wondering why you haven’t heard from us since last September. While we’ve been active behind the scenes, we’ve also been reflecting on what our newsletter should look like going forward. We’ve decided to aim for a quarterly update that includes contributions from our members — like book reviews and community reflections.
One encouraging development is the growing number of individuals and groups in our community taking their own steps toward Truth and Reconciliation. In 2024, a community member launched the Canadian Library Project with our support. Métis Elder Tony Belcourt offered a meaningful event called Reconciliation through Art for National Indigenous Day. The Almonte Youth Centre organized the vigil on the 30th in memory of children who died in residential schools. Other examples include Indigenous-led workshops at the Textile Museum and a speaker event by Learning Again in Almonte featuring members of Ginawaydaganuc. We’ve been happy to support these efforts, sometimes financially with remaining funds from our Seven Gifts project.
One particularly exciting initiative is the formation of Ginawaydaganuc Village. Their Executive Director, Karen Bisson, lives and works in our community, and their Indigenous board has found Mississippi Mills to be a welcoming place. We’re proud to support their work and look forward to seeing how it unfolds.
However, we’ve also faced challenges. While organizing an event for June 21st, we learned that several Indigenous authors and storytellers we hoped to invite have been wrongly accused of being “pretendians” by others within the Indigenous community. These accusations are deeply hurtful, and many affected are now hesitant to speak publicly.
We take seriously the issue of individuals falsely claiming Indigenous identity, but we believe it’s not our place to determine who is or isn’t Indigenous. That responsibility belongs to Indigenous people themselves. We’re fortunate to have guidance from trusted Indigenous community members when we seek speakers or collaborators.
All of this has prompted us to ask: What now? What’s our unique role in the Truth and Reconciliation process? A good rule of thumb is: Don’t do what someone else is already doing. And more importantly, what aligns with our capacity and our mission?
Our mission goes beyond hosting speakers or celebrations. It’s about rebuilding relationships of trust and friendship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in our community — whatever their family background or status. Colonization affected Indigenous people in many complex ways that can’t be addressed solely by treaties or compensation. One example: a speaker at our upcoming Solstice event is from the Tay Valley Algonquian Community, a non-status group whose history includes forced assimilation and migration. Their story matters, too.
So, what does reconciliation look like? For us, it means finding common ground and doing things together, as we did with the Seven Gifts project. Trust takes time to rebuild — especially when many Indigenous residents remain invisible due to broken trust passed down over generations.
In the past eight months, we’ve renewed our sense of purpose, refreshed our website, and unveiled a new logo — created collaboratively by Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists. (You can read the story behind the logo on our website.)
Warmly,
Sue E.