Our Commitment to Reconciliation
On Monday, September 30, 2019, OTF staff across Ontario participated in Orange Shirt Day, a day to show solidarity with residential school system survivors. We observed the day by wearing orange “Every Child Matters” shirts and attended a learning event, in-person and via Skype, with guest speaker Shirley Horn, who is the first-ever Chancellor of Algoma University, and a rare graduate of both the Shingwauk Indian Residential School and Algoma University.
In June 2015, the Ontario Trillium Foundation signed The Philanthropic Community's Declaration of Action. Signatories pledged to work towards reconciliation through this collective commitment, by ensuring that positive action will continue beyond the work of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Beginning with our enactment of recommendations made by OTF’s Indigenous Affinity Group in 2018, we are demonstrating an ongoing commitment to reconciliation and supporting Indigenous communities through continued learning on Indigenous cultures, histories, and challenges facing Indigenous communities.
We will continue to learn and remember, understand and acknowledge, participate and act.