🧡 Today, September 30th, marks the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. We honour the lives of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis children uprooted from their families and reflect on the deep wounds borne by Indigenous Peoples ever since. 😪 An estimated 150,000 children were forcibly removed from their families and communities, transferred to residential schools, sometimes thousands of kilometres away from their homes. They endured horrific conditions of physical and sexual abuse, unsanitary conditions resulting in disease, malnutrition and starvation, forced labour, and indoctrination out of their identity, languages and cultures. Thousands of children never made it home. From 1831 to 1996, there were 140 federally run residential schools across the country. For years, survivors and communities spoke out about the intergenerational trauma caused by these institutions: from the trauma inflicted on these children within the system, their loss of language, community, and culture and ways of being, to the ongoing forcible removal and assimilation under the child welfare system. The colonial policies and practices continue to this day: Indigenous children are overwhelmingly represented in Canada’s child welfare system; Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people experience staggeringly high rates of violence; and governments frequently approve industrial projects on Indigenous territories without their free, prior and informed consent. On this day, all non-Indigenous people are called upon to witness and act upon this truth, without which there can be no reconciliation. What can you do to mark this important day of reflection? #nationaltruthandreconciliationday #truthandreconciliation #EveryChildMatters #protectourchildern #colonialism #intergenerationaltrauma #trauma https://www.instagram.com/p/CUc35OPlm5e/?utm_medium=tumblr