Indigenous Initiatives
Truth and Reconciliation: A shared responsibility
October 5, 2026
Share
Members of the Queen's community gathering to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Hundreds gathered around a Sacred Fire on Agnes Benidickson Field last Wednesday afternoon as Queen’s Chancellor Shelagh Rogers asked what comes after acknowledging the truth about residential schools.
“It's a day that asks us to accept our shared responsibility,” said Chancellor Rogers, who served as an Honorary Witness for Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. “What are we going to do now that we know the truth? How are we going to work together to make things better?”
The gathering marked the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, observed each September 30 to honour children who died in residential schools, Survivors, and families and communities affected across generations. At least 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend government-funded, church-run residential schools for more than 150 years, and researchers estimate at least 3,200 children died while in their supervision.
Rogers spoke against efforts to deny or minimize that history.
“To the survivors and the families of survivors who are with us today, we believe you,” she said. “Even as I speak, there are efforts by residential school denialists to manipulate your story, to minimize the harms and the hurt of the residential school era, and to downplay what is well documented truth. What is undeniable is that thousands of children in residential schools did not come home.”
Queen's Chancellor Shelagh Rogers speaking on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
For Principal and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane, that history calls for Queen’s to examine how its own systems and practices reflect its colonial past.
“How should we scrutinize and restructure what we do in order to make that thing, reconciliation, a likely outcome?” he said. “It is not enough for us to raise flags, hold commemorations, and then to carry on with a process that is tightly, culturally circumscribed in the university's system. We must change our practices.”
Queen’s has taken steps to incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing into its practices and create Indigenous spaces on campus, though more work remains. Most recently, a portrait of the late Chancellor Emeritus Murray Sinclair, Queen’s first Indigenous chancellor, was added to the Richardson Hall boardroom. Displayed among portraits of his predecessors, Sinclair’s image prompts reflection on the university’s history and its relationship with Indigenous peoples, Deane said.
Dreyden George, the Alma Mater Society’s 157th and first Indigenous president, described a growing role for Indigenous students in shaping campus life.
“Indigenous students across campus now are seen across years of social progress to be within crucial conversations, decisions, and experiences at Queens,” he said.
Dreyden George speaking to the Queen's community on Agnes Benidickson Field.
Corinna Fitzgerald, Vice-Provost (Student Affairs), emphasized that advancing reconciliation is a responsibility shared by everyone in the Queen’s community.
“Indigenous students should not carry the responsibility of educating their friends, their classmates, and our campus about Indigenous cultures, histories, and experiences,” she said. “All members of the Queen's community must take the initiative to learn, ask thoughtful questions, and engage with Indigenous perspectives in meaningful ways.”
Lisa Maracle, Associate Vice-Principal (Indigenous Initiatives) spoke about feelings of loss that extend beyond the day for survivors and families whose loved ones never returned. She emphasized the need for ongoing efforts to build relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
“This is more than one day's work,” she said. “This work requires an ongoing commitment, and sustained action is necessary. It means working to build understanding that the actions of the past created the conditions that changed the world for Indigenous people, and making sure this never happens again. We must always consider the generations to come.”
Members of the Queen’s community can continue that learning through resources, events, and reports from the national and university Truth and Reconciliation committees available on the Office of Indigenous Initiatives website.
Campus observances of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation continue at Union Gallery, where Holding Our Breath: Visiting Artist Exhibition by Cree Métis artist Lara Felsing runs until November 21. The Fifth Annual Indigenous Art Exhibition also recently ran at the gallery.
