Sewehia:rak: We Remember

She:kon! Hello!

OTL will be hosting a memorial event for National Truth and Reconciliation Day on September 30th, 2025, from 1:00-2:00pm beside the front entrance of Johnston Hall on the University of Guelph campus. Sewehia:rak: We Remember is an opportunity for members of the UofG community to name and learn more about the countless victims, and survivors of the Canadian Indian Residential Boarding Schools (IRS).

The IRS system was the result of an assimilation policy enacted and funded by the Canadian Government from the late 1800’s to 1997. An estimated 100, 000 Indigenous children went through this system. In Canada, the legacy of IRS includes the physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse inflicted on Indigenous children by the Christian administrators who ran the schools. The horrific abuse faced by Indigenous people within the IRS system has contributed to intergenerational trauma that continues to harm Indigenous communities today.

We invite you to be a part of Sewehia:rak: We Remember as a Witness or a Speaker.

As a Witness, you will be present to listen to the names and the stories shared by others. This role is equally important as those who choose to speak. If you would like to be a Witness, please click Register to add the invitation link to your calendar. The Register link will ask you to download an .ics file to add the event to your Outlook calendar. The event can also be downloaded to your calendar through this link.

As a Speaker, we’d like you to research a victim, or survivor, of the Indian Residential Boarding School system in Canada, independently or with one or more of your colleagues. On the day of the event, we will invite you to share a part of their story for 1-2 minutes. If you would like to be a Speaker, please fill out this form. On this form, you will be asked to add the name of a survivor or victim selected and desired presentation format.

• Your 1–2-minute presentation can be a written narrative about the person, a poem, song, art piece etc. If you are unsure about your presentation format, please message Cara Loft, cloft@uoguelph.ca, to discuss your ideas.
• After you speak about the person you have selected, you can place a pair of secondhand children’s shoes on Winegard Walk. We encourage you to bring your own shoes, but we’ll have some extra pairs on hand if needed.
• Here are some resources to help with your research on a victim or survivor of the IRS System in Canada: Legacy of Hope: Residential School Survivors Stories and NCTR- Residential School Database with some victims' names, based on the school they attended.

To honour survivors and victims of the IRS and continue to raise awareness, you may also wish to wear an Orange Shirt on September 30th. If purchasing an Orange Shirt, please consider purchasing from an Indigenous business/vendor to help support Indigenous communities. Wearing an Orange shirt also honours the work done by Phyllis Webstad, who started National TRC Day as Orange Shirt Day. If you have any questions about the Sewehia:rak: We Remember Memorial Event, please email Cara Loft at cloft@uoguelph.ca

Nia:wen kowa! We hope you can join us for this important event.