Sylvia McAdam says the need for meaningful resources and funding to ensure that commitments to reconciliation are translated into tangible work rather than remaining words. (PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILKINS/University of Windsor)
By John-Paul Bonadonna
Reconciliation requires more than words. It calls for sustained action — in classrooms, institutions, communities and conversations around the dinner table.
That will be a central message when Indigenous scholar Sylvia McAdam of the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Law delivers the keynote address during the University’s Orange Shirt Day observances Sept. 30.
McAdam will join the campus community at River Commons for a ceremony that includes the raising of the Every Child Matters flag and reflection on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.
For McAdam, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is an opportunity to honour residential school survivors, their families and the children who were taken from their homes, while recognizing that the impacts of the residential school system continue to be felt today.
Her own family has experienced that legacy.
Two of her great-grandfathers survived Indian residential schools, and her family continues the work of uncovering and marking the graves of children who died at residential schools.
“It’s painful,” McAdam said, describing the experience of confronting both the physical evidence and the history of suffering and violence endured by her relatives.
That personal connection informs her commitment to speaking out and standing with survivors and their families.
“I am their shield,” she said.
“I’ll be their shield for that day.”
McAdam also emphasizes the responsibility of universities to ensure reconciliation remains an ongoing commitment.
At the Faculty of Law, students learn about Indigenous legal orders and residential schools as part of their legal education, providing opportunities to understand Canada’s history and to consider the meaning of real reconciliation.
But education must be accompanied by action, McAdam says.
McAdam stressed the need for meaningful resources and funding to ensure that commitments to reconciliation are translated into tangible work rather than remaining words.
Visible participation also matters.
McAdam encourages members of the University community to gather at River Commons on Sept. 30 as a demonstration of support for survivors and Indigenous communities.
“Indigenous peoples don’t stand alone,” she said, adding that seeing a strong turnout provides comfort and helps strengthen the dialogue around reconciliation.
But that support cannot begin and end with Orange Shirt Day.
McAdam encourages members of the campus community to begin conversations at home, sharing what they learn with family, friends and their wider communities.
“Start at your dinner tables,” she said.
She also challenges every part of the University community to consider its own responsibility: “What is their commitment to reconciliation and how will they demonstrate that and breathe life into it?”
Sept. 30 provides an important opportunity to pause, remember and honour.
The challenge, McAdam says, is to carry that commitment forward — and make reconciliation part of the work of every day.
To learn more about Orange Shirt Day campus and community events as well as resources, visit the dedicated UWindsor webpage.