Introducing GVAT’s Indigenous Relationships Learning Circle
The Indigenous Relationships Learning Circle (IRLC) is a relatively new offshoot of GVAT's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team. Whether it was the Kamloops (and elsewhere) 'findings' of the unmarked graves of the children who never came home, awareness of campaigns like Moosehide or Red Dress Day, (the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People), whatever the initiator was, - we have all been moved to Learn the Truth of Colonization and its catastrophic effects on the Indigenous population of Turtle Island. Learning to 'Wrestle with the Truth' is what we're doing most at the moment, preparing ourselves to help GVAT be a culturally safe and inclusive organization.
While we wrestle with these difficult facts, we have to 'unlearn' many of our white settler ways, to learn some of the mind changing, life changing ways, of Indigenous culture and 'ways of being'; how to weave kindness and respect, community, co-operation and compassion, into all aspects of our lives and into everything we do. Only by embracing this process can we hope to move towards genuine reconciliation.
Many members of our IRLC are gaining this Experiential Learning and building meaningful relationships with Indigenous people, through volunteering, whether at the Victoria Native Friendship Centre (vnfc.ca), Surrounded by Cedar (https://surroundedbycedar.com) Child and Family Services, or other opportunities such as Indigenous-led land restoration. (eg. invasive species removal on Songhees and Tseycum reserves through Habitat Acquisition Trust) https://hat.bc.ca/volunteer
If you are curious, maybe even enthusiastic by what you've read here, we'd love to have you come 'check us out'. Please email janew@gvat.ca for details of when we meet. Mostly it's on Zoom but sometimes we manage it in person. You may bump into us at the 2nd Annual South Island Powwow on National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. (Caledonia Park, Sept. 30) https://www.gvat.ca/calendar-events/south-island-pow-wow-2023
We look forward to meeting you.
