Image from the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls March, February, 2020 (Christina Lee).

[Content warning: residential schools]
The Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available 24-hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.

Many of us are struggling with the ability to process all that happened in the past weeks. And many of us are still learning how to hold in tandem the ways that we can both be in solidarity with Indigenous communities through their hurt, while also healing our own trauma. This is especially true following Asian History Month, having held space in the spotlight sharing emotionally heavy and personal experiences throughout the month of May. But this is a part of the process of learning and healing, and also part of working in community. 

So we are leaning into the discomfort of processing all that it means to be racialized settlers—people who experience racism, but who can also intentionally or unintentionally be complicit in, contribute to, and reproduce the harmful effects of white settler colonialism and other kinds of oppression.

But when we see someone hurting, we check in on them, we offer them care, we hold them with tenderness, we help them along. Which is why now, amongst all the hurt and pain that our own communities are feeling, we share our healing energies with those who need it most. We listen to what they need, we volunteer, we protest, we demand justice, we do everything in our power to support them in the ways that they ask of us. 

That’s why, this Indigenous Peoples Day, hua foundation joins in solidarity with Indigenous communities and organizations in calling for the release of Residential Schools records across the country. This is one of many steps needed to hold the Government of Canada, Provincial Governments, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Catholic Church accountable for the atrocities of the Residential School system. As settlers, we must recognize that the remains of the 215 Indigenous children found at the former Kamloops Residential School in Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc territory; 104 in Brandon, Manitoba; 38 in Regina, Saskatchewan; and others being identified in recent days is part of our colonial legacy and the ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples. It is our responsibility to demand accountability and action from our governments to stop the colonial violence, and do the work to learn and unlearn the history of this land, to move towards being better allies.

We encourage our community members to take time this week to read up on the following:

1. The federal government’s ongoing fight against residential school survivors and families of missing children
2. The lack of progress on Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action since its release in 2015, which stands at 9 out of 94, one less than last year. Update report (December 15, 2020) by the Yellowhead Institute 
3. Active violence against land defenders, including at Wet’suwet’en and at Fairy Creek.

Our condolences go out to the families of the children, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc; Brandon, Manitoba; Regina, Saskatchewan and Indigenous communities across Turtle Island.