U of T observes National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day
Rochelle Allan never met her grandmother and doesn’t know the details of her experience in Canada’s residential school system.
But as an Anishinaabe woman working to preserve her language, she often reflects on the path her grandmother was forced to walk.
“I think about her a lot – and especially, specifically (when) teaching children and teaching infants,” said Allan, an Indigenous language revitalization partnership co-ordinator at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Indigenous Studies.
The importance of that work is reflected in Allan’s own household, where she is raising her two children to speak Anishinaabemowin as their first language. She says she wants to ensure “that it’s not just the grandparent generation that speaks, but that we can look forward to future generations of first language-speaking children who understand the language in its true form.”
Allan shared her experience during a panel discussion on Indigenous language advocacy, part of the university’s commemoration of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. Flags on all three campuses – including Survivors’ Flags and Every Child Matters flags raised earlier in the month – were lowered to half-mast.
The tri-campus event, held in Hart House’s Great Hall, drew hundreds and was made available to the wider community via YouTube livestream. There was also a ceremonial fire immediately following at Ziibiing, the Indigenous teaching and gathering space on Hart House Green.
The Hart House ceremony included remarks by Alexandra Gillespie, vice-president of U of T and principal at U of T Mississauga, David Kim, warden of Hart House, and Wes Hall, the university’s chancellor.
Gillespie noted the coming year will see the formal unveiling of an Anishinaabemowin name for UTM's new student residence. For those who are unfamiliar with the language, learning what such names mean is an example of the ongoing work of truth and reconciliation, she said.
“That work belongs to all of us in Canada, not only to the Indigenous friends and colleagues who have been carrying the heaviest part of it,” Gillespie said. “Today we remember and today we think about the work that is ahead.”
Alexandra Gillespie, U of T vice-president and principal of U of T Mississauga, said non-Indigenous people bear a responsibility to contribute to the journey toward truth and reconciliation. (Photo by Polina Teif)
Attendees also heard from Hadya Noori, a first-year student in psychology and health studies at U of T Scarborough, who delivered a land acknowledgement at the event’s outset.
