City of Winnipeg

City of Winnipeg

August 1, 2021Posted inUncategorized
Reconciliation is about resilience. It’s also about honoring the truth and reconciling for the future, and I was very pleased to declare 2016 as the Year of Reconciliation for Winnipeg. It is my hope this will build on the years of important work undertaken by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and all of Winnipeg’s grassroots organizations toward reconciling our collective past. I have been excited by Winnipeggers’ warm and dynamic response so far to this being the Year of Reconciliation. From Indigenous Elders and community organizations, to members of our immigrant and newcomers’ communities, and to young people I’ve talked with in high schools all across…

Guiding Principles for Gatherings

July 30, 2021Posted inGathering Theme
The Seven Sacred Teachings of the Anishinaabe *LOVE: it is important to care for one another
HONESTY: better to fail with honesty than succeed by fraud
RESPECT: give it, earn it, receive it
TRUTH: it is always easiest to speak the truth
HUMILITY: to be humble about your accomplishments is to be strong
COURAGE: let nothing stand in the way of doing the right thing
WISDOM: with hard work and dedication will come knowledge With the help of a talking stick, each person in the circle group will be listened to in turn, treated with respect and valued for their insights. In Zoom Circles, we create a…

Getting To Know You (In-Person Circle)

July 30, 2021Posted inGathering Theme
In this first gathering we want to establish a climate of “mutual recognition and mutual respect” to use the words of the Truth and Reconciliation Report. No matter what your background and life experiences, we want to respect you, by listening to you and by recognizing the value of you as a person and what you have to bring to our gathering. It is important that we agree on this respect for one another at the outset.Our Circles give us a wonderful opportunity to meet one another, to get to know one another, to hear the stories of one another…
Honouring the Sacred Ones

Honouring the Sacred Ones

July 29, 2021Posted inNews Archive
We have planted a beautiful circle of flowers to remember the many children who have lost their lives at residential schools. Circles held a gathering of staff and volunteers with...... to mark our Carefully bordered with stones and highlighted with a hand lettered sign in the Dakota language, this garden will continue to bloom and thrive for many years. The unfolding story of the building and planting of the garden is described more fully at this link.

Canadian History Uncovered

July 3, 2021Posted inNews Archive
On May 30th, 2021, many Canadians woke up to a new reality for them. The Canada they knew had changed. What happened was the horrendous discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops Residential School. This was not news to the Indigenous people. The long oral history by Indigenous people had told this story for years, and six years ago the TRC has reported on the existence of such unmarked graves of Indigenous children, and stated there were many more not yet discovered. That day, what had been Indigenous history became Canadian history. The news of the findings changed Canada.…
Announcing #94in94

Announcing #94in94

June 22, 2021Posted inNews Archive
In response to the recent discoveries in Kamloops and Brandon, Reconciliation Thunder and Circles for Reconciliation are launching an awareness campaign to help center conversations on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action. For each of the 94 days before Orange Shirt Day (September 30, 2021) each of the 94 Calls to Action will be shared on social media in hopes that one day every Canadian will have read the and have chosen at least one to act on.     View the campaign landing page!

The Meaning of Land

June 19, 2021Posted inGathering Theme
"Why do Indigenous people stay on reserves when there is often water that has to be boiled, mold in the houses, few educational opportunities and no jobs? For the sake of the children, why don’t they leave and come to the city?"This is a real question that was posed by a non-Indigenous person. The answers are somewhat complex.The answer provided to this person constitutes the text of our theme which was prepared by a non-Indigenous person. Use the controls on the grey bar below to access more viewing options and the download button.
A Canadian Genocide

A Canadian Genocide

June 10, 2021Posted inNews Archive
You likely have heard about the discovery of the remains of 215 children at the Kamloops Residential School in late May 2021. This discovery is on top of the documented more than 4,100 children previously identified by the TRC’s Missing Children’s Project. Some of the remains are of children as young as three years old. Circles for Reconciliation acknowledges these findings and recognizes they are not simply rumours. This is a horrible legacy of our Canadian past. This heartbreaking news is too familiar for many Indigenous families across Canada. Waves of grief continue to flow through many of our Indigenous…

Theodore Fontaine: A Remarkable Elder

May 30, 2021Posted inNews Archive
Theodore Fontaine died on May 10, 2021. He was an Elder with wisdom, compassion, forgiveness, humility, fearlessness in telling the truth of the past, all coming from a deep sense of pride in who he was and his people. His book, “Broken Circle, The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools” is a remarkable memoir of his years in the Fort Alexander Indian Residential School, from 1948-1958 and the Assiniboia Indian Residential School from 1958-1960. For years, he supported survivors and spoke about reconciliation with those who were perpetrators of his abuse. Theodore was also a friend and advisor to Circles…