150, 000 children have been taken and abused over 150 years, over 4,000 women and girls have been missing or murdered in 50 years, and 618 Indigenous communities do not have access to safe drinking water, all in one government-funded cultural genocide that causes intergenerational trauma to this day. 

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, formerly known as Orange Shirt Day, is observed annually on Sept. 30. An important opportunity for reflection and commemoration, this day is dedicated to honouring the survivors of residential schools, along with their families and communities. This day goes towards Canada’s broader efforts toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Today, the far-reaching and deeply harmful effects of the cultural genocide are still felt through intergenerational trauma and societal barriers. Suicide rates in Indigenous youth are six times higher than in non-Indigenous Canadian populations, 34 per cent of Indigenous children live below the poverty line in Ontario, compared to 15 per cent of non-Indigenous children, and Indigenous women are four times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be victims of violence.

Unfortunately, Indigenous people also fall victim to negative myths and stereotypes such as being lazy, having it easy, they don’t have to pay taxes, and more. “People have a lot of misconceptions about Indigenous people,” said Jean Becker, the Associate Vice-President of Indigenous Relations at the UW’s Office of Indigenous Relations (OIR). “People don’t understand what’s going on often because they don’t know the history and they don’t understand that Indigenous people are the first peoples of Canada, that we have treaty rights — we have constitutional rights.”

Founded in 2022, the OIR aims to decolonize and Indigenize the UW campus for both Indigenous students and faculty. “We can help with just about any issue that any student has,” Becker said. “We can really strengthen them and make their journey a bit easier.” This is done through year-round events, workshops, implementing Indigenous history and knowledge into course curriculums, and promoting inclusion of Indigenous peoples. 

The OIR’s biggest and most well-known event is today: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation “We did a commitment ceremony with the university where we asked the President to commit to work on decolonization, Indigenization and reconciliation, and they agreed to that. We had the first one I think it must have been three years ago,” Becker explained. “Now each year we do a ceremony, we call it a polishing ceremony or repolishing ceremony, where it’s a real recommitment to the original commitment [of reconciliation].”

However, this year’s ceremony was extra special — the Outdoor Gathering Space was officially opened. The project has been in the works since April of this year, and it’s a space where Indigenous folks and Indigenous allies can come together, relax, and feel comfortable knowing they’re in a safe environment from materials and inspiration significant to Indigenous cultures. The space can also be booked for Indigenous events, teachings, ceremonies, and more. 

The polishing ceremony and the opening of the outdoor space was followed by a reflective walk around the UW campus, a lunch of Indigenous dishes, and a drum circle. “It’ll [was] an exciting day for us and we feel that this will be an opportunity where we can gather together and really recognize the children who were lost in residential schools and children who never came home.” 

While reflection is extremely important in being a better Indigenous ally, education and centering Indigenous people in this conversation are vital for reconciliation. Another way the OIR decolonizes and Indigenizes UW is by recruiting as many Indigenous staff at UW as possible. “We needed to have Indigenous people on campus in order to make sure that we are being guided by Indigenous people in any work we do on indigenization,” Becker said. “We really can’t do it without Indigenous people to do this work and obviously supported by our allies who are interested in seeing that the gap in Indigenous education is closed by the university.”

Since Becker started working at the OIR, she’s seen two Indigenous faculty managers be hired, one for the math faculty and the other for the environment, 30 Indigenous employees be hired, and the amount of Indigenous UW students grow from 180 to nearly 300. To ensure Indigenous UW employees feel comfortable and safe at the university, the OIR set up an Indigenous employee network to support these faculty members. “We meet monthly to talk about our different units, to have the support of other Indigenous workers, to share our challenges, to share our successes, to let everybody kind of stay up to date on what’s happening throughout the institution,” said Becker. 

The OIR also works to have more Indigenous faculty to aid Indigenous students with specific issues such as funding, insurance, mental health issues, and other issues requiring a direct Indigenous perspective. “You need to understand the system that they’re coming from in order to understand how to help them to navigate how that impacts them at the university,” Becker said. “Indigenous students tend to come to us with higher levels of trauma than counseling services might be prepared to deal with… they often do need trauma-informed counseling, which may not be what they get when you’re working with the university system.”

Becker encourages both Indigenous students and non-Indigenous allies to be in touch with the OIR, get involved, or simply be aware of the support they offer as they could be of use to you. “As a student, you know how important your well-being is to you, so we really want people to be able to access the support and the services that they need,” explained Becker. “We’re really very optimistic about the progress that we’ve made over the past couple of years and we’re very optimistic about the future for Waterloo and in regard to Indigenization and we think there’s lots of work to do, but we feel that we are making progress.”

If you’re interested in learning more about the OIR, visit uwaterloo.ca/indigenous.