Dear Colleagues,

Monday, September 30 is Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It’s a day of remembrance, reflection, and learning truths to enact reconciliation, and a day to recognize First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures, identities, and historical and contemporary realities. We are all treaty peoples, and reconciliation is the responsibility of all of us.

Monday is an intentional moment for all of us to reflect, learn, and take action. There is no one way to approach this. These discussions are not easy, and the topics involved may be triggering for some staff. It is important for us to recognize that there are different facets each of us use to move towards learning truths as we move towards reconciliation – on September 30, and beyond. 

The library section of Jostle has learning resources on offer. I encourage each of you, if you haven’t yet, to read or revisit the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Also in the Jostle library is a paper from the Museums Association of Saskatchewan on the importance of UNDRIP and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to Museums. Within these documents are many highlighted calls to action that we can incorporate into our work as further steps towards reconciliation. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is another learning resource.

At the most basic level, take a moment to walk and to reflect. Personally, I love to take walking meetings across the museum galleries and outside Grange Park. One of my favorite pastimes is to view Robert Houle’s Seven Grandfathers in our Walker Court space and reflect on Elder Duke Redbird’s teachings of the Seven Ancestors and the Food Forest. A snippet can be found here: The Seven Ancestor Teachings, from Elder Duke Redbird youtube.com.  

A short walk from the AGO is a new Spirit Garden at Nathan Phillips Square that will be open to the public on Monday, September 30. The space is a partnership between the City of Toronto and Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre. Our colleagues at Two Row Architect, who are part of the DRMCG design team, worked on the Spirit Garden’s design. There are many events celebrating the Garden’s opening this weekend – including remarks from Two Row Architect Brian Porter — and you can learn more here.

Something to remember is that part of the Truth is that First Nations, Métis and Inuit people are joyful, brilliant, creative, and thriving.

Thank you,

Alain

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Alain Graham (he/him)

Chief, People Division (Human Resources)