On Thursday, September 29, 2022, our staff and students will take part in a Truth and Reconciliation service lead by Father Mark McGuckin. It will be our second service in which we continue to seek truth, healing and reconciliation with our Indigenous communities.
Originally planned in conjunction with Father Garry Laboucane last year, a Metis-Cree oblate priest now serving in Alberta, we will be taking part in this ceremony and then reflecting with our house advisory groups directly after.
During a visit to Rome, Chief Marie-Anne Day Walker-Pelletier presented Pope Francis with a pair of moccasin shoes in order to “represent the children who never made it home from Canada’s residential schools.” Her hope was that our Holy Father would return them when he apologized on behalf of the Catholic population for the atrocities committed in these schools.
In keeping with the symbolism established by our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and Chief Marie-Anne Day Walker-Pelletier of the Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan, we are encouraging our students and families to donate a pair of new or used children’s or adult shoes to a local Indigenous non-profit organization.
Collections will begin tomorrow and are to be placed in bins in our front foyer. They will be collected until Thursday, Sept 29, 2022, the day of our Truth and Reconcilation ceremony.
