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From the John Buchan Society Dinner to Truth and Reconciliation at Congress 2015 May 31st, 2015

Just over a week ago I attended a formal dinner held by the John Buchan Society at the National Club in Toronto. It was a posh event whose activities included the reading of a letter of welcome from Governor General David Johnston and a visit, via Skype, from Buchan’s granddaughter, Lady Deborah Stewartby, who greeted us from the John Buchan Museum in Peebles, Scotland. Having since arrived in Ottawa for the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation Congress, I had the privilege yesterday of hearing Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, discuss the horrific legacy of Indian Residential Schools, a talk that moved many audience members, myself included, to tears. Justice Sinclair’s call for action was repeated in a subsequent Roundtable discussion entitled “Reconciliation and the Academy: Building a Social Movement,” whose speakers, including host Waubgeshig Rice, urged those of us in the circle to work for positive change. As a teacher, researcher and citizen, I vow to accept this challenge and do what I can to make amends for my country’s colonial nightmare, from which we are now hopefully beginning to awaken.