Awareness and recognition

September brings important opportunities to learn, reflect, and take action, including the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and the Week of Deaf People. In this special newsletter, we’re sharing resources and updates to help you stay informed.

Truth and Reconciliation Week

September 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day.

This is a time to remember the children who never returned home from residential and day schools, to honour survivors and their families, and to learn about the ongoing impacts of colonization.

It’s also an opportunity to learn more about truth, justice, and reconciliation with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities.

Resources to learn and share

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is hosting free online learning events from September 21 to 25.

Yellowhead School
The Yellowhead School offers a free online course about the dispossession of Indigenous lands in Canada and the strategies communities are using to reclaim them.

Legal information

Legal Information for Indigenous People: National Edition – Bella Coola Legal Advocacy Program
Helping Indigenous Communities in Saskatchewan Navigate the Law – Legal Information for Indigenous Communities
How do I reclaim my traditional Indigenous name? – Steps to Justice
Indigenous rights in Criminal Law – Steps to Justice

Additional resources

Transformative Territory Acknowledgement Guide – Len Pierre Consulting
Honouring Truth and Reconciliation in the Workplace – Inclusivity
Services and supports – CLEO Connect
Decolonization and Indigenization – BCcampus Open Publishing
Organisational Decolonization Action Plan – VIDEA

International Week of Deaf People

September 23 is the International Day of Sign Languages, and September 21 to 27 is International Week of Deaf People. It’s an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of sign languages in realizing the human rights of d/Deaf people.

The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) has released a campaign that focuses on:

advocacy strategies connected to the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and
the WFD’s 75th anniversary.

CLEO legal information with ASL interpretation

CLEO offers its English legal information webinars with ASL interpretation, making these sessions more accessible to community workers and others who support people with legal problems. 

Our 3-part series on navigating the process at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario covers:

Presentations from CLEO’s Housing Law virtual conference, co-hosted with the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights, are also available with ASL interpretation:

With presentation slides – smaller interpreter view
Without presentation slides – larger interpreter view