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Reflecting on our shared responsibility
to the next generations.
When we began this newsletter in the winter of 2020 and were searching for a name, the Inuinnaqtun word Hivumut came up. In English, it means 'moving forward'. When we thought about the content we wanted to share, the messages we wanted to convey, and the work that we're doing as an organization, Hivumut embodied it.
We're tackling the legacies of colonization and working to heal, individually and collectively. We are repairing relationships between generations that have been strained. We are rebuilding our communities and our wellbeing. We are reclaiming our traditions and reconnecting to our ancestors. We are speaking and reawakening our language.
But there is work that remains in order for us to move forward, collectively, as Canadians, and now more than ever that is clear.
Between 2009 and 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission travelled across the country, carrying out extensive research and conducting over 6,500 interviews with witnesses of Canada's residential schools. The TRC heard from Survivors, their families, members of their communities, and former staff. These courageous witnesses detailed unthinkable truths, speaking them aloud so that they would be forever documented, and that all Canadians would know, be called to action and moved to make change. 94 Calls to Action were part of the Final Report, meant to guide us in the process of reconciliation.
This past year, the discovery of unmarked graves at former school sites has shocked Canadians and shed new light on the truths that Indigenous communities have known for decades.
Now that you know, what will you do? How can we move forward?
This isn't an Indigenous story, it's Canada's story. Today, as we take pause for Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we ask you to reflect, and then boldly commit to thoughtful, ongoing action. We won't arrive at a destination tomorrow, or even next year. The systems that have been created and continue to perpetuate injustice have been in place for generations, and it will take generations of work to dismantle them. Unaddressed, unresolved and ongoing issues persist today that cause disparities and create barriers for Indigenous Peoples. Reconciliation is a process and we have a shared responsibility to build and maintain mutually respectful relationships.
We each have the power to listen, accept the truth, hold ourselves accountable, take responsibility, and move forward. Our past and our present may already be written, but the future is still ours to author.
“We have described for you a mountain. We have shown you the path to the top. We call upon you to do the climbing.” — Justice Murray Sinclair, when introducing the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
For those who want to begin climbing, but are unsure of how to take the first step, or where to find the path, we offer a few ways forward. The way may be bumpy, winding, and steep, but the view from the top is always worth it.
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| | | | Read the 94 Calls to Action.
Learn the truth about what happened by starting with the volumes compiled by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Then, familiarize yourself with the TRC's 94 Calls to Action. | | | |  | Make change.
Consider how you can use your connections, strengths, and voice to advance a number of those Calls and then act on it.
Commit to one thing each day.
Hold yourself accountable. Hold others accountable. | | | |  | Uplift Indigenous businesses.
Make purchases.
Write reviews.
Spread the word. | | |  | Celebrate Indigenous heritage.
Amplify our joy. Colonization has been just a fraction of histories spanning millennia.
Learn about the incredible diversity of all of the founding Peoples of our land, the vibrance of our cultures and languages, and our heritage and contributions. | | | |  | Support healing.
Support the reclamation of our identities, languages, and cultures.
Support Indigenous-led organizations that are driving Indigenous innovation and solutions in our communities. | | | | |  |  |  | | Residential Schools & the Inuinnait Experience
The Residential School experience for Indigenous Peoples across Canada—including Inuit—began in the late 1860s. From 1867 to the closing of the last residential school in 2000, over 150,000 Indigenous children attended residential schooling.
While the Inuit encounter with Residential Schools differed from that of many First Nations, it was still one of cultural loss... Learn more. | | | |  | Moving Forward: Learning Resources
We have compiled a list of resources to deepen your understanding of what happened, and what continues to happen, so that you are equipped to act and make change. This list is by no means exhaustive. Indigenous Peoples in Canada are diverse, and so are Indigenous-led organizations, businesses and the resources, products and services that they offer. We urge you to continue to do your own research, and explore. | |
 | In the year of our 25th anniversary, we reconfirmed our commitment to reawakening our language and culture. We are all in for Inuinnaqtun with a goal to reach $250,000 by March 5, 2022.
Every dollar directed to the Akhuuqhimajara Inuinnaqtun campaign supports critical initiatives and programs that are advancing reconciliation, and empowering Inuinnait to find our voices and reconnect to our ancestors and their worldview.
Since March 6, 2021, we have raised 74% of our goal to support healing and cultural resurgence. | |
| |  | Inuvik teens are inspiring youth to speak up and use their voices to share their stories and thoughts on important issues through Nipatur̂uq Magazine.
Deregulate and Empower Indigenous Language Teachers, a policy paper by Jane Glassco Fellow by Killulark Arngna’naaq, explores how Indigenous language revitalization across Arctic Canada can be supported through a change in tax policy at the federal level.
The digital world is opening up new opportunities to CHamoru language learners in Guam.
Through filmmaking, Indigenous communities are ensuring their cultures live on – and embrace the future.
| |  | This plant medicine teacher is reclaiming Anishinaabe names for species. Why that could be good for the planet. A new Indigenous languages space will be coming to Kingston soon.
Fish traps have a long history around the world, and a vast network in a Vancouver Island estuary reveals generations of ecological wisdom.
The Language Revitalization Pole that started as a United Nations project in 2019 to pay tribute to the importance of Indigenous languages has found a name and a permanent home on Nuu-chah-nulth territory.
Visitors to the new Canadian Canoe Museum (set to open to the public in 2023) will see and hear languages and voices from Indigenous communities the moment they step into the museum. | |  | Canada Council for the Arts just announced the launch of a new strategic fund. Digital Generator is a short-term initiative to support Canadian arts groups, collectives, and organizations to build their digital capacity and transform their business model and operations.
For any of our Central Ontario followers, The Peterborough Museum & Archives is currently hosting The Ones We Met – Inuit Traditional Knowledge and the Franklin Expedition, an exhibition developed by the Canadian Museum of History and the Inuit Heritage Trust, which explores the role of Inuit oral history in solving that mystery. The exhibit is on display from September 18 to December 5, 2021. | |
 | | |  | Was this e-newsletter shared with you? Would you like to join our mailing list?
Subscribe. | |  | We're a leader for culture and heritage in Nunavut, guided by an Inuinnait Board. We address projects of critical importance to the revival of Inuit culture, language and history. We focus on the critical needs of Inuinnait—a distinct regional group of Inuit living in the Central Canadian Arctic.
Our mission is to preserve and renew Inuinnait knowledge, language and culture for the benefit of all Inuit.
Our vision is to concentrate and connect the resources, expertise and technology critical to Inuinnait cultural and linguistic survival. | |
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