Truth and Reconciliation Day

Truth & Reconciliation Day is a time to honour the children who never returned home, survivors of residential schools, and their families and communities. It is a day for reflection, learning, and commitment to meaningful reconciliation. At NorQuest College, we come together in the spirit of respect, truth and healing to acknowledge the past and work toward a shared future of understanding and equity.

• Program: 9:15 – 9:45 am
• Activities: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Sharing Circles (10:00 am, SCFL Atrium)

• Students register here
• NorQuest employees register here

A sharing circle is a traditional Indigenous practice that brings people together in a respectful and inclusive space. NorQuest staff will guide the circle to create a place where both staff and students can share, listen, and learn from one another.

In the circle, everyone has an equal opportunity to speak while others listen with openness and without interruption. Together, we honour the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation by creating a space for reflection, understanding, and connection within our college community.

ReconciliACTION Wall (SCFL Atrium)

The ReconciliACTION Wall is a space for reflection and commitment. It invites staff and students to share personal actions they will take to support Truth and Reconciliation. By adding our voices and pledges, we move beyond awareness into meaningful action, showing our collective responsibility to walk the path of reconciliation together.

Seeds of Hope: Connecting to Land and Community (SCFL Atrium)

This activity invites you to plant a seed in a small terracotta pot as a symbol of hope, growth, and reconciliation. Each herb you choose carries a meaning: remembrance, courage, renewal, or love. This connects us not only to each other but also to the land that sustains us. As these seeds grow, may they remind us that reconciliation is a journey that requires care, patience, and commitment.

Learner Centre

Resources will be made available for staff and students to learn about the day itself and Indigenous culture and history in Canada.

This Sacred Fire (Miyonohk Park)

This Sacred Fire will offer NorQuest students and employees a place for reflection and to honor survivors and Indigenous children who did not return home from residential schools. This fire will also represent our journey of truth and reconciliation.

Blanket Exercise (10:00 am, Innovation Studio CELT 5-204D)

• Students register here
• NorQuest employees register here

The Blanket Exercise is facilitated by Bent Arrow. The KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE) is an experiential teaching tool based on participatory popular education methodology that explores the historic and contemporary relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in the land we now know as Canada. Created in 1997 by the Aboriginal Rights Coalition (ARC), a precursor to KAIROS, the KBE was initially meant to introduce Canadians to the major themes and findings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP). The Coalition brought together Elders, Indigenous educators, and allies who wanted to make sure that RCAP and its recommendations were not shelved and forgotten. The KBE is built on the foundation of these long standing, collaborative initiatives and relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples to raise awareness of continuing injustices and impacts of colonization, and to promote further learning. For over two decades, ARC and now KAIROS have guided its ongoing development with the leadership of Elders and Indigenous facilitators across this land.

For questions, please contact events@norquest.ca