(Image 1) Illustration by Fallon Simard (@waasegiizhik)

(Image 2) Poem by Smokii Sumac (@smokiisumac)

–

(Content Warning: Residential Schools)

In 1971, Trinity Square Video opened its doors in downtown Toronto. The year before that (1970) the Mohawk Institute, the residential school nearest to us (according to the Shingwauk Residential School Centre and the CBC) closed after 139 years of operations. It’s troubling to recognize that during an inaugural year of growth and beginnings, our proximity to generations of loss, violence, and ethnic cleansing was both known and ignored.

Trinity Square Video is located on traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat and the Mississaugas of the Credit River. This territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant. This area, located in present-day Tkaronto (Toronto), remains the home and meeting place to many Indigenous people. 

On September 30th, and all days throughout the year, we honour the children who were lost to colonial violence, the survivors of residential schools, their families, and communities. It is critical, as an artist-run centre that values equity and diversity, that we continue to do the work of dismantling colonial powers and forming allyship with the fight for justice and sovereignty for Indigenous peoples. 

–

Poem by Smokii Sumac:

day of mourning 

day of learning 

day of honouring

our children 

those ones who became our grandparents 

those ones who 

survived 

and so many 

too many 

numbers 

overwhelming 

those 

little ones 

who 

did 

not

day of grieving 

day of praying 

day of witnessing

when we asked our Elders 

“what is the word 

in our language 

for reconciliation?” 

there was only 

silence 

let this be 

a day of truth

–

Thank you to Fallon Simard and Smokii Sumac for contributing their artworks for this post.