CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald
September 10, 2012 – By MICHAEL GORMAN Truro Bureau
More than 100 residential school survivors will gather in Dartmouth next week for the Atlantic Regional Indian Residential Schools commemoration event.
Themed From Victim to Survivor, the three-day event at the Dartmouth Holiday Inn from Wednesday to Friday will bring together survivors, their families, members of First Nations communities and non-aboriginal people to learn about the history of the schools and Mi’kmaq culture, and focus on healing and ways to move forward.
“What we’re not trying to do is paint a picture of victims,” said Violet Paul, a member of the event’s organizing committee.
“We’re asking the non-native people to come in to listen to us, to join us and be with us and work with us as we move forward together.”
Planned events include open-forum discussions, sharing circles, sessions focused on traditional Mi’kmaq culture and recognition of survivors. Speakers include Chief Shawn Atleo of Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, a former national chief and residential school survivor, and Justice Murray Sinclair, chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
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