Dear Colleagues,
Tomorrow is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and TUFA encourages its members to show solidarity with Indigenous colleagues and students by participating in the commemorative activities planned for today (Durham campus) and Monday (Symons campus). Details are available on Trent’s “Honouring Truth & Reconciliation Day” page. On September 30th, we collectively remember the Indigenous children torn from communities and denied their culture in Canada’s residential schools, we stand in solidarity with the families who suffered to see those children taken, and we recognize the intergenerational reverberations of that nation-wide brutality. There is much that universities such as ours can do to “redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation,” as outlined in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.
Assisted by our national and provincial affiliates, and in-step with colleagues across the country, TUFA is engaged in the work of decolonization and Reconciliation: it is reflected in our goals, our advocacy, and increasingly, in our collective agreement and policies. We recognize that Reconciliation is of value, not only where we work, but where we live as well. Trent’s Unions (TUFA, CUPE 3908, and OPSEU 365) along with the local United Way and the Peterborough & District Labour Council have been advancing Reconciliation in Nogojiwanong in partnership with the Peterborough Public Library by sponsoring a multi-year Downie Wenjack Legacy Space in our community library. We encourage you to visit the Legacy Space when you’re downtown (please note that the Library will be closed this Saturday so that staff can themselves participate in commemorative activities).
On behalf of the Executive Committee,
Geoff and Marcus
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Dr. Geoff Navara
Associate Professor, Psychology Department
President, Trent University Faculty Association
Dr. Marcus Harvey
Executive Director, Trent University Faculty Association