Thank you for taking the time to explore the Canadian Unitarian Council's Truth, Healing and Reconciliation Reflection Guide (THRRGuide) . We have collected educational multimedia materials for Lifespan Learning about the process of colonization, in particular the Indian Residential School System and its impacts on our history and present-day life. This material was developed to provide Unitarian Universalist context through activities, reading lists, reflection questions and spiritual exercises for different ages.
Reflection Guides are being developed for the following age groups:
We are beginning in 2015 with the Upper Elementary and Adult Reflection Guides, and will follow up with the Lower Elementary, Youth, and Young Adult Reflection Guides.
This Reflection Guide arises out of the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) and Unitarian Universalist Ministers of Canada's (UUMOC) Expression of Truth & Reconciliation, offered through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to those who experienced the Indian Residential School System and all those who have felt and continue to live with the effects of it. (For the full Expression, see Handout 1.6). In that Expression, two of the actions we committed to were:
This Reflection Guide was created in response to those commitments.
Because there are so many resources available now about this topic, we are approaching this Reflection Guide as a living document. It will continue to develop and grow as we develop our skills in intercultural communication, learn about new resources, and improve ways of offering them. We are pleased to be able to offer the Reflection Guide through an online platform so we can be responsive to these changes.
We are grateful to those people who supported us, consulted with us, and offered resources. While we cannot name them all here, as the list would go on and on, we do want to recognize the following:
We are aware of the privilege and responsibility of taking on this task on behalf of our Canadian Unitarian Universalist movement. We are not experts in this area: we are fellow travellers. We offer what we have learned and found useful as resources, as well as what others have recommended to us. We offer this Reflection Guide in humility, offering the best we have. By the time you read this, new information or perspectives will most likely have surfaced, rendering some of our offerings out of date. We offer it with best intentions, and will continue to update the content. We appreciate constructive feedback, so if you have suggestions, please let us know. We aim to learn along with you. If you would like to know about us and our backgrounds, see Appendix 1: About the Task Force. Together we will continue to develop this Reflection Guide and offer it to those around us, as we walk the path of truth, healing and reconciliation together.
The CUC's Truth, Healing & Reconciliation Reflection Guide Task Force:
Rev. Meg Roberts and Rev. Samaya Oakley (co-chairs), April Hope (CUC staff), Marlene Blake Seale, Amber Dawn Bellemare, Casey Stainsby, Leslie Kemp (members)