About the Event
In collaboration with the Haudenosaunee community of Akwesasne and Tyendinaga, we invite you to participate in a powerful condolence ceremony. Together, let’s address the inherited guilt, shame, and fear stemming from past injustices towards Indigenous peoples.
PARTICIPATE in a ceremony led by our Haudenosaunee neighbors
ENGAGE in truth and reconciliation efforts
RENEW relationships and foster unity and BELONGING within our community
All are welcome to participate in this transformative event, lifting our hearts and minds and paving the way for a brighter future for the faces yet to come.
The events will be held in Cornwall on October 1, Brockville on October 2, and Kingston on October 8.
More Information
The Haudenosaunee people are an alliance of six Indigenous tribes, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy, who live in communities along the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec as well as in the American state of New York. They follow the Great Law of Peace as created and spread by the Haudenosaunee figures, Hiawatha, and the Peacemaker, which led to their establishment of the world’s oldest democracy.
Stories tell that Hiawatha, in a deep depression following the loss of his loved ones, was wandering the land when he met the Peacemaker. The Peacemaker recognized Hiawatha’s need to overcome his grief and carry the message of peace forward and therefore performed the first Ceremony of Condolence. Inspired and renewed, Hiawatha traveled among his fellow Haudenosaunee people spreading the message of the Great Law of Peace and succeeding in ending the war and bloodshed by forming the Iroquois Confederacy.
Since then, the Condolence Ceremony is performed in Haudenosaunee communities to recognize and resolve grief: to clear the eyes to see well again, to clear the ears to hear well again, and to clear the throat to speak well again. This allows clear communication and reconciliation.
Historically, we Canadians were taught little about the relationships between colonial powers, our government, and the attempted genocide of Indigenous peoples. As individuals and organizations learn and share more about this forgotten or ignored history, many feel overwhelmed by grief, anger, and sadness, all emotions the Condolence Ceremony was/is developed/designed to address.
A Condolence Ceremony will allow the SLC community to clear our grief and set us on a good path for true reconciliation.
As a precursor to the “Wiping the Tears: From the Shadows to Reconciliation” Condolence Ceremony, we invite you to share your stories of truth, grief, or reconciliation and place them in the basket. Baskets can be found in the library on each campus. You can also share your reflections on social media.
See the list of reflection questions here
At the ceremony, these collective words will be burned in a ceremonial fire, representing our grief for our shared history and a commitment to reconciliation in the future. Afterwards, the baskets will remain on each SLC campus to remind us of this important milestone in our communities’ healing.