The Tamarack Institute is a registered Canadian charity dedicated to ending poverty in all its forms, for good. We support communities to enable true, long-term change.
Truth and Reconciliation is a critical process in Canada that seeks to redress the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization on Indigenous peoples.
It acknowledges the trauma and abuse endured by Indigenous children and families and intentionally centers healing, justice, and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples.
Photo Credit: The mural above is titled “Better for All: Diversity. Inclusion. Equality” by the Youth of CBYF and guided by Bruno Hernani.
At Tamarack, we are working towards creating a more equitable workplace and learning environment. This includes enrolling in and upholding our responsibilities as they align with the Truth and Reconciliation 94 Calls to Action, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls 231 Calls to Justice, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recommendations.
We are at the beginning stages of our shared journey towards reconciliation, and we are committed to developing meaningful, reciprocal relationships with Indigenous Peoples and their communities, while also centring care, community-led healing, and transparency throughout the process.
For Staff
As part of Tamarack’s reconciliation journey and responsibilities under the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, an internal policy was created to offer Tamarack staff the opportunity to participate in and commit to reconciliation through Indigenous-led processes of reflection and learning in lieu of a traditional workday on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR) on September 30 each year.
Two-Part Blog Post Series
Tamarack’s inaugural Manager of Communities – Indigenous, Angelina Pelletier, contributed to a two-part blog post series centred around Indigenous reconciliation and the importance of reflection and collaboration with Indigenous-led community organizations in our network. Titled, Community-based healing: Meaningful ways to observe NDTR, the publication invites the Tamarack learner community to engage in meaningful ways to partner and work with Indigenous communities and become active participants in the process of reconciliation.
The second part of the series, 2022 Resources for Truth and Reconciliation, was co-authored by Angelina Pelletier and Rochelle Ignacio and provides some history behind Orange Shirt Day as well as resources available in varied formats and media to promote accessible learning for all.
The Coworking Idea Project featured the blog post as their monthly challenge in October 2022. In lieu of receiving an honourarium for their contribution, a donation was made to BIPOC2COP to support an Indigenous and racialized youth delegation with connections to Communities Building Youth Futures (CBYF) as they made the journey to COP27 which took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in November 2022.
