Dear Listen and Learn Community,

I want to begin by sending my condolences and solidarity to the Indigenous readers of this newsletter. I cannot imagine the extent of your pain and grief about the discovery of the mass burial site of 215 Indigenous children at the site of the Kamloops Residential School.

Survivors and their families have been telling the rest of us about the existence for years, and their potential existence was well documented by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which concluded its work in 2015. I was angered to hear that the Commission asked for $1.5 million dollars to examine all the sites, but was denied those funds by the Federal Government at the time. Call to Action 74 to 76 addresses this issue, but the current Federal Government has not taken that work up yet.

This reminded me the role non-Indigenous people need to play in holding our government to account, and in doing so, amplifying the voices of Indigenous peoples.

I have included four of my older blog posts at the end of this email if you are looking for resources or commentary about teaching about Residential Schools. But it struck me that many of my educators colleagues are already doing this work, and what might be needed most at this moment is a different kind of action.

I realized this week that people might want an opportunity to channel their emotions at the discovery of the 215 children, and so I called together ten friends this week, and we held a free public letter writing event with on Thursday, that we are repeating again on Monday. I've included our poster below with more information following it, including a letter writing template that you might find useful.

I hope some of you will join us on Monday June 7. Please be in touch if you have any questions - here is the sign up form: bit.ly/TA2Gether

Listen & Learn