National Day for Truth and Reconciliation honours the children who never returned home and survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities.
On this day, Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society has engaged Jillian Morris – Collingwood’s poet laureate and host of Yonnweh’ón:we, an Indigenous art series that explores contemporary Indigenous storytelling through poetry, film and dance – tocurate programming for an event in Creemore.
“It’s so much more powerful to hear a story through the person who lived it,” said Morris. “The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation tends to focus on the larger topics like residential schools and the Sixties Scoop so you can learn about those in broader strokes but it’s so much more impactful when you hear the stories within, from the people who actually lived them, and that’s what I encourage people to seek out.”
On Sept. 30, Morris will present Lin Alluna’s 2020 documentary film Twice Colonized about renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter who has spent her life fighting for Inuit rights. When her son suddenly dies, she sets out to reclaim her language and culture after a lifetime of forced assimilation.
“Film is a captivating medium,” said Morris. “Nobody feels like they are being spoken at, they are being engaged through this medium so it is a fairly safe way to help people understand these stories.”
She says she chose to present Twice Colonized because she was intrigued by the story about the Inuit experience, “the displacement and disruption to that way of life.”
“It happened so much more recently than it did for a lot of First Nations communities,” said Morris, who is Kanien’kehaka and band member of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, currently residing in Collingwood.
“The impacts are showing up a little bit differently.”
Morris said she hopes the film will help bring close to home a story that is playing out in the far north.
She said film, poetry and music are wonderful ways for people to learn from first hand stories.
Also on the bill is up and coming singer songwriter JD Crosstown, whose passion is in telling stories with his own words, ones that capture the poignancy of a time and a place, of heartbreak, loss, hope, love, adventure and friendship.
Heavily inspired by the stories embedded in traditional folk, country, and blues songs, Crosstown has developed his own unique style that reflects all of these genres. From country waltzes to finger-styled blues, Crosstown always keeps people guessing on what he’ll play next. Having many hopes and aspirations, Crosstown’s main concern is that his songs can give people a place to lean back on for a moment or two.
The event will take place at 7 p.m. at St. John’s United Church, Creemore. Admission is free.