Indigenous People's Day

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Projections

June 21, 2021

University of Saskatchewan

We grieve as the announcement was made of the confirmation of a mass burial ground in Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc that held the remains of 215 children. This forensic proof supported what we have already known and have been formally called to act on since the publication of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings in June of 2015.

Now six years later, the truth is continuing to reveal itself, the actions are yet to be fully taken. As we collectively grieve let us remember that Indigenous peoples do not need help from colonial structures and the people that sustain them, instead all humans need to work to dismantle structures of hate and the systemic barriers produced by them.

For National Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21st, 2021, various buildings across the University of Saskatchewan joined in projecting the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's calls to action on doors and windows. In honour of National Indigenous History Month and the lives lost at residential schools, these calls are a reminder of the ways we can all take action.

The College of Arts and Science, Art & Art History department, College of Dentistry, School of Rehabilitation Science, and School of Public Policy Diefenbaker participated by utilizing their respective buildings and spaces to project calls to action in relation to Museum and Archives (67-71), Media and Reconciliation (84-86), Education (6-12), Reconciliation (43-47), Health (18-24), and Professional Development and Training for Public Servants (57).

We will continue to be guided by our Elders and community in solidarity and love to dislodge colonial strategies of division. The University Art Galleries and Collection at the University of Saskatchewan believe and stand with all survivors.