Today, on July 1st, TO350 members would like to acknowledge the horrific findings of childrens' remains at the former residential school sites across Canada and express our support for Indigenous communities. This is a time of mourning, not a time to celebrate.

If you are a survivor of Indigenous residential schools, or someone who bears the intergenerational trauma of them and you need support, call the Residential School help line: 1-866-925-4419. If you are looking for local social supports anywhere across Canada, call 211.

We have put together a Resource List for those who may be struggling after the traumatic discovery of of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Mental health supports are vital to ensure that trauma is not life-lasting.
View the list: https://t.co/DKWOqsEEGt pic.twitter.com/bckaPyojdp

— National Association of Friendship Centres (@NAFC_ANCA) June 7, 2021

This knowledge is not new knowledge. It is yet another confirmation of what Indigenous families have been saying for so long. It is another confirmation of the fact that Canada is built on colonialism and acts of genocide.

This is also not just history. Inter-generational trauma, inequity and colonialism continue to impact Indigenous communities today. Indigenous children continue to be separated from their families. Incarceration rates are disproportionate. Access to basic human rights, like clean drinking water, are blocked.

NEW: Residential schools took away children, so Canada could take away the land.

They weren’t schools of instruction but destruction, sinister machines of dispossession of Indigenous life and land.

And the dispossession hasn’t stopped. pic.twitter.com/upDcBkjlY4

— The Breach (@TheBreachMedia) June 25, 2021

For non-Indigenous Canadians, TO350 would like to suggest that we use this day for reflection and commitment to action, not celebration.

Take the initiative to read or re-read the Truth and Reconciliation commission's reports and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls final report. Find your place among the recommendations and begin taking action.

Here are a few more social shares and ideas for what we could do, to empathetically and actively mark this day.

Join @SpiritBear & read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action in this free child friendly version. Residential School survivors asked all of us to make sure this work gets done. Top Calls to Action are about Indigenous children today. https://t.co/6xtMN2dhqx pic.twitter.com/vRnadORsb2

— Cindy Blackstock (@cblackst) June 26, 2021

Residential school survivors told their truths. You can help make their dream of justice a reality- call your MP & demand the feds stop fighting Indigenous kids & residential school survivors in court & implement the TRC Calls to Action. https://t.co/VCB8biZ2MZ

— Cindy Blackstock (@cblackst) June 24, 2021

As settlers in Canada, we have a responsibility - both individually as people and collectively as a country- in reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

We're putting together a resource page at @oncanadaproject ➡️ https://t.co/DFpHmJcGcI#215children #everychildmatters pic.twitter.com/Uyd2ZPENRK

— On Canada Project (@oncanadaproject) June 1, 2021

Donate to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society: https://www.irsss.ca/donate

10 ways to donate to Indigenous communities in Canada https://t.co/lW9v69AReG #Canada #Toronto #IndigenousCanada

— blogTO (@blogTO) June 26, 2021

Donate to Indigenous Land Defenders:

• 1492 Land Back Lane: @1492LBL – gofundme Legal Fund
• Tiny House Warriors: Donate
• Unist’ot’en Camp: @UnistotenCamp, https://unistoten.camp/
• Gidimt’en Checkpoint: @Gidimte, yintahaccess.com – Donate
• Raven Trust: Donate

Unfolding findings will continue to underscore this countries' destructive, colonial history. They will continue to re-initiate grief and trauma for those impacted by the residential school system, for those whose children need to come home.

Non-Indigenous folk, to mark July 1st, vow to be part of reconciliation - self-initiate learning, check-in on your Indigenous friends, amplify Indigenous voices, commit to action and show up in solidarity.