The Debwewin Workshop

The Debwewin Workshop: Launch of Grateful Treaty Person and Acts of Allyship Campaign is open to all: staff, students, faculty, and members of our external communities are all welcome. Registration is not required.

At the beginning of Treaties Recognition Week, Sheridan College will host its first Social Construction Workshop (a new event series), The Debwewin Workshop: Launch of Grateful Treaty Person and Acts of Allyship Campaign.

This event will feature an introduction to the project by Wendy Rinella, CEO of the Oakville Community Foundation; a welcome song by Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation Councillor R. Kelly Laforme; a poetry reading by Gimaa Stacey Laforme, Chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation; and the premiere screening of a short film featuring Elder Peter Schuler, Indigenous Cultural Advisor to the Debwewin Project. Dr. Karine Duhamel, who served as Director of Research for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and is a member of the Debwewin Advisory Council, will address treaties from an Indigenous perspective and how this perspective is integrated into the Commitment to Truth & Allyship. The event will be moderated by Debwewin lead Georgia Laforme.

Anyone who attends the workshop will have the opportunity to ask questions about the project. The workshop will provide information about the postsecondary student Debwewin Allyship Poetry Contest, and how to participate in a call to action and sign the Commitment to Truth & Allyship, part of the Grateful Treaty Person and Acts of Allyship Campaign. Committing to this campaign will provide you with a toolkit, resources, and the opportunity to be part of a community-to-community reconciliation initiative. This launch is leading up to the 203^rd anniversary of the signing of Treaty 22 on February 28, 2023.

Location: Sheridan College, Trafalgar Campus, SCAET S235

On February 28, 1820, according to the terms of Treaty 22, the Mississaugas and the Crown concluded an agreement regarding the lands at 12 and 16 Mile Creeks along with northern and southern portions of the Credit River Reserve.

Debwewin: The Oakville Truth Project is a partnership between the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the Oakville Community Foundation to further our shared understanding of Oakville’s Indigenous past and support local Truth & Reconciliation (debwewinoakville.ca).