Category Archives: Indigenous Nations History

History, Indigenous Nations History

The shadow of residential schools ‘gets longer and longer’

Warning: This story contains details that may provoke distress or trauma in some readers.

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Homalco Chief Darren Blaney has the tragic distinction of being a third-generation residential school survivor.

Like his father, and grandfather before him, Blaney was forced from his home, family, and culture in the small community of Church House in Bute Inlet along B.C.’s remote central coast.

“My great-grandfather was the first one from Homalco to go to residential school in 1875,” said Blaney.

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Indigenous Nations History

Treat Truth and Reconciliation Day as Remembrance Day

qathet Living, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Truth and Reconciliation Day should be like Remembrance Day. A day to honour and remember the children who did not make it home from out of  Canada’s Residential Schools, and a day to honour and respect those who did. 

Then again, how can one really truly come home whole after experiencing what they had inside those places? Residential schools impacted every single First Nations community across Canada. 

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Community, Indigenous Nations History

Lorelei Williams says Canadians must believe the dark truth of genocide

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Canada’s National Observer spoke with Lorelei Williams, an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) and their families, ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

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Indigenous Nations History

Gladys Radek urges Canadians to end ‘vicious cycle of racism’

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Canada’s National Observer spoke with Gladys Radek, a longtime activist for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

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History, Indigenous Nations History

First Nations finding five generations of family

By Abby Francis, quathet Living, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Family Tree is a project Tla’amin has been working on since the 1990s. Tla’amin was given a grant for genealogy by the treaties society, they used the grant to connect the community through lifelines of a family tree. However, the tree had stopped being updated in the early 2000s, leaving out any new family members born after that time. Until now. 

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