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We, at the Faculty of Education, ������Ƶ University of Newfoundland and Labrador, grieve with those impacted by the recent and on-going identification of unmarked graves of First Nation children at residential schools in Canada.

Standing in solidarity, we commit to remembering:

• All who died in Indian Residential Schools across this Land;
• All those who carry the scars of residential school experiences;
• The survivors whose lives were irrevocably damaged by residential school traumas; and
• The children and grandchildren of survivors who are directly impacted by this intergenerational trauma.

We commit to:

• Continue to adjust and expand our undergraduate and graduate programming to fulfill the relevant Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in order to prepare educators for their important roles in the lives of children, youth and adult learners;
• Integrate a respectful, informed and critical understanding of and response to harms done to Indigenous Peoples of this Land in our research activities; and
• Work in collaborative partnerships steeped in ‘right relations’ with Indigenous communities, Elders and educational leaders to inform and guide our Faculty’s on-going change efforts.

The Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair has stated, “many generations of children, including non-Aboriginal people have been raised to think about things in a … way that is negative when it comes to Aboriginal people.” 

 

As a Faculty of Education, we commit to working for transformative educational change that supports decolonization, indigenization and reconciliation.