September 30 is The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (also known as Orange Shirt Day). It’s part of an effort to promote awareness and education of the residential school system and the impact it has had on Indigenous communities for over a century.
Earlier this year, we embarked on a multi-year partnership with Indspire through their Building Brighter Futures initiative with a big, hairy audacious goal (BHAG) to fund 215 bursaries over the next 5 years that we’re calling #impact215 in honour of the 215 children who lost their lives at the Kamloops BC residential school.
We are so proud to announce that we’ve just awarded our first two bursaries to some very deserving students. Here’s what our first recipient had to say:
“After I graduate with a business degree, I plan on going straight into law school. After law, I’m coming back to work for my reserve and other reserves by helping with the never-ending fight on land issues, water, housing, education, etc., against the government, industry, and provinces that First Nations deal with on a daily basis.”
The Roundtable Indspire Bursary Recipient, Samson Cree Nation
We have a long way to go to get to our #impact215 goal, but we are so appreciative of the support and help of our clients and Roundtable participants who have already stepped up by:
- Donating directly to Indspire to fund more bursaries… thank you Pepsico’s WIN group, Cheryl Kim, Jim Reid, Steve Georgopoulos and Jennifer Hagen.
- Sharing with us how their organizations are doing their own initiatives to support Indigenous people’s… great work Canadian Juno Awards, LifeLabs, and Cambridge College
- Reading and sharing Bob Joseph’s 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act book which we now provide to all graduates of Roundtable programs.
An extra special shout out to everyone who referred clients to us as part of our #impact215 referral campaign. Thanks to introductions from Ian Adler, Nancy Rooney and Jeff Cooke, we have already raised enough money to fund one additional bursary in 2022. If you have someone you would like to refer to our programs, please reach out.
Together, we will make a difference and transform indigenous education and support First Nation, Inuit and Métis youth across Canada as they pursue post-secondary education.
