94Quilt: Blocks 80 - 87

Today is Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. I waited one day to post my regular Wednesday 94 Quilt post for that reason. I am hopeful, so hopeful, that we have truly begun the journey to understanding our Indigenous hosts, (because this is their land) and repairing the centuries of wrongs we have inflicted upon them. Lots and lots of small steps have been taken, but many many more are needed to get to the stage where they are not the highest percentage of incarcerated men and women, they are not the highest percentage of children in foster care, no longer a major number of humans dealing with addiction, homelessness, mental illness... 

I continue to learn. Making this quilt while I read, reflect upon, and research each Call and its progress has been another step for me on my journey to truth and reconciliation. The truth. The truth is not pretty, and shying away from it, saying you can't handle it, you don't want to talk or read or hear about anymore of it because it's too upsetting is another act of white privilege. So I urge you to do the right thing: #dosomething @decolonizemyself @pam-palmater Any of those accounts or the hashtag will lead you to educating yourself. Education is the key to understanding our sister and brother humans.

I acknowledge that I am living on unceded territory of Anishinaabeg (Source: Canadian Encyclopedia) on the shore of erielhonan, (Iroquoian word meaning 'long tail') now called Lake Erie.

The post that explains my 94Quilt project is here.  Since July 1 I've been making a flying geese block a day as I read one of the 94 Calls to Action, its accompanying explanations and progress report, and links that go with each one.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is the main website with a wealth of information.

Beyond 94 is the CBC-created site that is an ongoing report card monitoring how we are doing with the calls.

Reconciliation

80. Establish a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a statutory holiday.

Complete.

• I did not plan this to be the first Call nor that our actual Truth and Reconciliation Day would be the day after I normally have been posting these posts. How very fitting. Higher forces at work.
• In August 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the Liberals were going to declare a federal statutory holiday and that the process was undeway.
• A previous private member's bill had been passed in the House in March 2019, but had only passed first reading in the Senate when the 42nd Parliament ended.
• Two dates had been considered: June 21, which is National Indigenous Peoples Day, and September 30, which is Orange Shirt Day. This day of remembrance was started in 2013 by residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad. Ry Moran, director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation said, "It's not just about creating another day off from work or from school. We have to remember and we can even borrow the phrase from Remembrance Day, 'Lest we forget.' If we forget what has happened in the past, just how low we can sink, we are at serious risk of recreating those same issues again in the future.”

DrEAMi! #56

Welcome to another edition of Drop Everything And Make it! Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict sent me this amazing video. Squirrels are so very smart; we don't give them enough credit.

Isn't that just the best squirrel video yet? Bahaha. Well, let's see what we've all been up to over the past month.

Gratitude #56

Welcome to my monthly post of gratitude. I try and mostly succeed, to practise gratitude each and every day. It genuinely lifts my spirit, and I've found that it has become a habit. Here are a few from the past month. If you'd like to read more uplifting posts from around the globe, head to LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color where she writes a weekly post, and others link up theirs.

1. I'm grateful for our Mother Earth. Despite the horrific mistreatment and disrespect for her these past 70 years especially, she provides. I grew beets this summer, and besides cooking, and pickling a few, I used a couple to make my own beet hummus. Yum!

94Quilt: Blocks 72 - 79

I acknowledge that I am living on unceded territory of Anishinaabeg (Source: Canadian Encyclopedia) on the shore of erielhonan, (Iroquoian word meaning 'long tail') now called Lake Erie.

The post that explains my 94Quilt project is here.  Since July 1 I've been making a flying geese block a day as I read one of the 94 Calls to Action, its accompanying explanations and progress report, and links that go with each one.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is the main website with a wealth of information.

Beyond 94 is the CBC-created site that is an ongoing report card monitoring how we are doing with the calls.

Trigger Warning: some of the content in today's post can be disturbing for some readers.

Reconciliation

72. Develop and maintain the National Residential School Student Death Register created by the TRC.

In progress. Projects underway.

• In March 2018, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) received funding to support the implementation of this.
• In the 2019 budget $33.8 million over three years was committed, beginning in 2019, to establish and maintain this, and provide opportunities for commemoration.
• worth noting this was done prior to the discoveries of several mass graves at these 'schools' in 2021.

Orange You Glad You Did?

Orange is the September colour, and I got my orange 9-patch block done and the entire quilt is now a flimsy! 'Orange I glad I did indeed! I had the orange block on Instagram, but here, dear readers, is the entire top upon which your eyes may feast!

This is from the book by Jenifer Dick, Nine-Patch Revolution. It is an excellent book. Last year's RSC was also from it, 9-Patch Spectrum.

94 Quilt: Blocks 64 - 71

I acknowledge that I am living on unceded territory of Anishinaabeg (Source: Canadian Encyclopedia) on the shore of erielhonan, (Iroquoian word meaning 'long tail') now called Lake Erie.

The post that explains my 94Quilt project is here.  Since July 1 I've been making a flying geese block a day as I read one of the 94 Calls to Action, its accompanying explanations and progress report, and links that go with each one.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is the main website with a wealth of information.

Beyond 94 is the CBC-created site that is an ongoing report card monitoring how we are doing with the calls.

Reconciliation

64. Require publicly-funded denominational schools to teach comparative religious studies including Aboriginal spiritual beliefs. 

Not started.

• The original Call wording specifies "spiritual beliefs and practices in collaboration with Aboriginal elders."
• According to Beyond 94, although there are some schools who do teach this, few were compiled with guidance and input from Indigenous elders. 
• You can read specifics for each province's implementation of this Call on Beyond 94. Again, here is yet another example where education is under provincial jurisdiction, so when Singh continually says he will "immediately implement all 94 Calls," he either has 'forgotten' or 'doesn't know' that education is not under federal jurisdiction, so good luck making provinces do this 'immediately'.

Balloon Ride - Scrappy Improv Quilting Book Release Hop

I am super-duper-excited to have been asked by Kelly of My Quilt Infatuation to participate in her second quilt book release blog hop, and to be posting my project on the first day of the hop!

If, (lol, let me change that):  Because you have oodles of scraps, you need, yup, need this book. It will help decrease them, I promise; though, if you're like me, you won't notice the decrease, ha. 

So. Many. Gorgeous. Mini quilts. It was hard, but I finally decided upon the hot air balloon mini, which I've called 'Balloon Ride'. 

Up, Up, and Away!

The Light Within in Make Modern Issue #42 and TGIFF

Issue #42 is here today and I am in it on page 42! Also, welcome to TGIFF!

A couple of posts ago I showed the photo of four of the quilts in the magazine, asking if you could guess which one was mine. Were you right?

Make Modern issue 42 is on sale now for just $12. You can also get a one-year subscription for a mere $50AU. (affiliate links)

94 Quilt: Blocks 57 - 63

I acknowledge that I am living on unceded territory of Anishinaabeg (Source: Canadian Encyclopedia) on the shore of erielhonan, (Iroquoian word meaning 'long tail') now called Lake Erie.

The post that explains my 94Quilt project is here.  Since July 1 I've been making a flying geese block a day as I read one of the 94 Calls to Action, its accompanying explanations and progress report, and links that go with each one.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is the main website with a wealth of information.

Beyond 94 is the CBC-created site that is an ongoing report card monitoring how we are doing with the calls.

Reconciliation

57. Educate public servants on the history of Aboriginal peoples.

In progress. Projects underway.

The Canada School of Public Service is working on curriculum for federal public servants. (see note on their app below Call 63)

• The "Indigenous Learning Series" is being created in collaboration with unions and "Indigenous learning experts and elders to ensure that the series is inclusive of and informed by Indigenous perspectives."
• There are currently six courses.
• Public servants in the Northwest Territories and Ontario are required to receive Indigenous cultural awareness training.
• Manitoba, BC, and Alberta have all taken steps in educating public servants; details on Beyond 94.

OMG and PHD: fleurs

First of all, confession: I did not get a Project Half Done, aka PHD, to the finished stage in August. However, I am one ahead so I'm still on track to finish 12 UFOs. For September, I aim to fulfill my PHD requirement and set this as my OMG: finish 'fleurs', a 'self-round robin' I made when I was part of the Erie Shore Quilt Guild.

The criteria for this was to choose an orphan block for the centre, (mine was the hand-appliquéd Rose of Sharon) and then each month a member of the executive would specify what style of quilting would be for that particular round. For example, the first round, in October 2013, was 'stripes', the second round was flying geese, and so on. It went on for seven months. I finished mine in December 2014, after I was no longer a member. It has sat, ever since. (red face of shame)

94 Quilt: Blocks 50 - 56

I acknowledge that I am living on unceded territory of Anishinaabeg (Source: Canadian Encyclopedia) on the shore of erielhonan, (Iroquoian word meaning 'long tail') now called Lake Erie.

The post that explains my 94Quilt project is here.  Since July 1 I've been making a flying geese block a day as I read one of the 94 Calls to Action, its accompanying explanations and progress report, and links that go with each one.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is the main website with a wealth of information.

Beyond 94 is the CBC-created site that is an ongoing report card monitoring how we are doing with the calls.

Reconciliation

50.  Establish Indigenous law institutes.

In progress. Projects proposed.

This is in keeping with UNDRIP.

• Within the 2019 budget is $9.1 million over three years to build an Indigenous Legal Lodge at the University of Victoria, BC.
• In July 2021, just under $1 million over  three years was allocated to Iroquois and Allied Indians and Lakehead University's law faculty in Thunder Bay, ON, towards an Indigenous law institute.
• Also in the 2019 budget was $10 million over five years in support of Indigenous law initiatives. $134 127 has gone to the University of Alberta for the development of the Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge, a partnership between the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Native Studies.

So when certain party leaders on the campaign trail say that if they become Prime Minister, they'll immediately adopt all 94 Calls, one sees that this is a grandiose statement, one that leans towards flippant, when we look at what has been started just within this one call! These are huge undertakings, and can't be implemented "immediately" as this particular party leader stated.

There is more information on Beyond 94 on what is going on wrt this Call. The Federation of Law Societies of Canada has an advisory committee which has been doing work on this Call and others to do with law.