Many people have felt shocked by the discovery of the remains of 215 children at the site of a former residential school and are wondering what they can do. Many Indigenous people have said that while this is a tragic discovery, they aren't shocked by it. When you know the history of residential schools, of colonization, of white supremacy in Canada as they do, this discovery is deeply horrific, but not surprising. One way that some Indigenous people have suggested taking action is by getting educated, learning about their histories and the impacts of colonization.
The University of Alberta has a free, Massive Open Online Course called Indigenous Canada. It's from their Faculty of Native Studies and it explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada.
As one piece of living out our call to reconciliation, the NSPEI Youth & Family Ministry team is encouraging people to take this course. You can do the course totally on your own, but we also hope to set up a discussion group for people to participate in as they do the course.
You can find out more about the course here: https://www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/online-courses/indigenous-canada/index.html
And more about the discussion group here: https://www.nspeidiocese.ca/pages/indigenous-canada