NEWS RELEASE
OMAH HISTORY COMMITTEE
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On March 8, people across Canada come together to celebrate International Women’s Day 2024.
The day is set aside to honour women and their achievements.
The History Committee at the Orillia Museum of Art and History, in honour of International Women’s Day, hosts Dr. Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux as guest speaker on Wednesday, March 20 at 7 p.m. via Zoom with her talk, The Reality of Reconciliation in Canada and Abroad.
What is truth? What is reconciliation? And what does coexistence actually mean? What will it take to make reconciliation and coexistence a reality?
Dr. Wesley-Esquimaux, a dedicated social justice advocate, is well qualified to speak on this important topic. She is a member and resident of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation in Ontario and has dedicated her life to building bridges of understanding between peoples. She is deeply committed to public education and sees endless merit in bringing people from diverse cultures, ages, and backgrounds together to engage in practical dialogue and applied research initiatives. She serves as the first Indigenous chair for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada for Lakehead University, where she continues to develop pathways forward to reconciliation across Canada.
Dr. Wesley-Esquimaux was inducted as an honorary witness by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2014 and chairs the Governing Circle for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba. She was the inaugural Nexen chair in Indigenous leadership at the Banff Centre, and is a board member on several organizations across Ontario.
Join the discussion, and share your thoughts on this important and compelling topic.
Don’t miss it.
To receive a link to the talk visit www.orilliamuseum.org/3-24 or call Monica at 705-326-2159.
Admission is free. Donations to OMAH are appreciated.
On April 17 at 7 p.m. via Zoom, Dr. Frances Helyar will present her talk, History Education Through Art: C.W. Jefferys Draws the History of Simcoe County. Jefferys was a contemporary of the Group of Seven, an instructor at the University of Toronto School of Architecture and an executive member of both the Ontario Society of Artists and the Ontario Historical Society. During his lifetime, however, he was best known as an illustrator of school textbooks. Join Dr. Helyar’s discussion about Jefferys’s work, focusing on his drawings depicting Simcoe County history, while also providing a fascinating glimpse into the representation of Canada’s past in early-20th-century textbooks.
To register for the talk visit www.orilliamuseum.org/4-24 or call Monica at 705-326-2159.
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