UNB Department of History offer of Indigenous community support

The Department of History at the University of New Brunswick, Ekwpahak|Fredericton, on unceded
Wəlastəkwihkok territory, sends our condolences to the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island who are in
mourning with Tk’emlùps te Secwépemc community for the 215 children found at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

We are writing to encourage any Indigenous nations, communities, or persons to contact us directly if they are looking for assistance from professional historians in recovering what can be recovered. We are at your service to conduct archival research, locate genealogical records, and assist with documentation for land claims. Please contact us: history@unb.ca.

The sovereignty and self-determination of Indigenous nations on Turtle Island are under threat from
Canada’s imperialist and genocidal policies. The historians of the Department of History are Canadian and U.S. citizens. Canadian historians have played a significant role in obscuring the history of settler
colonialism. Canadian history as a discipline often perpetuates nationalist ideologies that have made
genocidal policies such as the incarceration of Indigenous children in Residential Schools possible through the creation of narratives that defend the righteousness of the Canadian settler state. We call on every Canadian historian to understand how they have contributed to genocidal policies and to reject provincial curricula that deny and downplay the histories of settler colonialism and Residential Schools and Day Schools. Day Schools, in particular, were prominent throughout Wəlastəkwihkok.

The Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick has issued a statement which reminds Canadians of the ongoing legacies of Residential Schools within the child welfare system. We call the public’s attention to such statements issued by Indigenous communities, including the ongoing archeological investigations led by Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office (KMKNO) alongside the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs and Elder Dorene Bernard at the site of the former Shubenacadie school.

We support calls for the settler state to institute a National Day of Mourning while we demand truth and justice for Canada’s genocidal crimes. We call for the full implementation of the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. We honour the survivors who told their stories as part of the TRC and who continue to speak their truth.

There is no apology worthy enough to address what has happened. We will lead with our actions and not with our words.

The National Residential School Crisis Line is available 24/7 to survivors: 1-866-925-4419.

With deep regret,

The University of New Brunswick Department of History