Journey Towards Reconciliation (2016)

In 2014, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada held seven national events across the country to gather testimony from Indian Residential School Survivors. This nation-wide acknowledgement of the atrocities that took place in these schools was a difficult, but important step towards healing in a journey of reconciliation in Canada. Miyo Pimatisiwin Productions supported a group of Indigenous youth in their personal journeys as they learned about the history of the residential schools and their personal connection to the legacy. Through the lens of a camera, these young people explore intergenerational trauma, Indigenous resistance and resilience. The youth engaged in an act of reclamation in Edmonton's Grandin LRT Station, under the mentorship of artists Aaron Paquette and Sylvia Nadeau, the handprints of Indigenous youth are immortalized in the station to remind citizens that they are still here. And so began their Journey Toward Reconciliation...