September 26, 2023
Dear St.Amant Families,
As we approach National Day for Truth & Reconciliation, we reaffirm our commitment at St.Amant to learning the true history of our country, to understanding the harms that have occurred and that still occur today. We also reaffirm our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation and to working together with our partners to learn and evolve so that our services do not continue to contribute to the cycle of harm.
St.Amant is a community that includes people we support, their family and friends, employees, volunteers, community partners and supporters. This community is roughly 5000 people strong; together we can make a significant contribution to Truth and Reconciliation. Small ripples can grow into big waves. I call on each and every one of you to think about your personal journey and commitment to Truth and Reconciliation. I challenge you to bring the conversation to your network and to help ignite and inspire change.
As you’ll see in this newsletter, we are hosting events at St.Amant’s 440 River Road location tomorrow that you are welcome to attend. We’re also sharing about other community events where you can participate and learn.
I am proud to share our Truth and Reconciliation Action Plan. I thank our Board for challenging us to develop the plan and for their ongoing commitment to Truth and Reconciliation. Although we have a long way to go, I am confident that, with the support and engagement of our community, we will make great strides to becoming a safer, more culturally competent organization. We commit to working in a good way with Indigenous peoples to improve the quality of our services and to becoming a better employer and partner.
We are adding a land acknowledgment to all of our outgoing emails. Although this is a small action, we recognize that email is our most prolific tool and that including this reminder of the land where we are located helps to reinforce our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation.
We are working with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority to offer Indigenous Cultural Awareness training. It will be open to all staff with both online and in-person options. The Executive Team is working with Rhonda Forgues, a very experienced Indigenous consultant, to help guide our Reconciliation efforts and our Board and Executive team are participating in a Turtle Island Workshop in early October to support our learning journey. As well, our organization is engaged with Clayton Sandy and Joseph Thompson to help us develop an Indigenous Human Resources strategy that will help us to attract and retain Indigenous employees who bring not only a much needed perspective to our team, also improved cultural safety and supports for everyone we support.
As I said before, we have a lot of work to do. We are looking forward to the journey ahead for all of us, together. We can all start by taking some meaningful time on September 30th, to learn more about our history and to participate in acts of Reconciliation.
Wishing you all well,
Ben Adaman
President & CEO