Happy Hump Day {{first_name | Toaster}} 🐪 ,

This past Sunday, a group of white nationalists appeared near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School with a banner reading “Got bones?” The RCMP is investigating the incident, which Indigenous leaders and community organizations have condemned as an act of residential school denialism. It's a pretty stark reminder that truth isn't something Canada has collectively “checked off.”

Residential schools are not ancient history. Survivors are still here and their families are still here. Indigenous communities are still living with the consequences of those institutions and, as this week's events make painfully clear, the history of residential schools is still being contested.

Truth comes before reconciliation. You can't reconcile with something you haven't acknowledged. You can't repair a relationship by pretending the thing that damaged it didn't happen. You can't move forward while asking the people who were harmed to simply move on. We appreciated this post from Skwálwen Botanicals on why truth requires getting uncomfortable.

For some employees across Canada, September 30 is an optional general holiday, meaning employers can choose whether to recognize it. In several other provinces and territories, it's a statutory holiday.

Is giving people the day off automatically the more meaningful choice? A day away from work can create space to attend a ceremony, learn, listen, reflect or simply sit with some difficult history. But a day off, without context or resources, may simply be experienced as another day off. If your employees do get the day off, there's an opportunity to talk about why. Some workplaces remain open on September 30 while creating intentional space for learning. Whether employees are working or off, today should make room for reflection and participation.

The more important question is what happens in our day-to-day. If we're only thinking about Indigenous individuals and communities once a year, we're not really changing the way we think, we're scheduling our awareness. We can look more intentionally at who we buy from, whose expertise we seek out, whether Indigenous employees feel safe and supported at work, whether Indigenous businesses and creators are part of our vendor lists, events, and partnerships.

One of the most useful things we can do is listen to Indigenous people themselves. Not corporate explainers about reconciliation, not just a two-paragraph history lesson on LinkedIn, or even this newsletter. We recognize that we’re not the people best positioned to speak to this, so we’ve included some resources below.

Listen to Indigenous writers, survivors. artists, leaders, educators, and people in your own community. Hear it from the people whose history, families and communities we're talking about. Truth is something we have to keep making room for. Reconciliation is something we have to keep doing.

Team Toast 🧡

Listen
Hear directly from residential school Survivors and Indigenous voices.

Learn
The NCTR has free educational resources, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s reports and The Survivors Speak.

Act
Keep the conversation going beyond September 30 - support Indigenous-led organizations, attend community events, and look for ways to bring Indigenous voices into your workplace and community throughout the year.

​Last call: Summit tickets! 🎟️

Today is your last day to grab your Toast Summit ticket. Trust us, you’ll want to be in the room. This year we’ve got everything from massages, self-defence, personal styling, storytelling workshops, a woman-founded marketplace, giveaways and a few surprises along the way. Oh, and did we mention the grand prize might help with your fall wardrobe? 👀

​Two Montréal communities, one table. Join TOAST and Co-Working Girls for a special co-working session this Wednesday October 7th.

​Bring your laptop, your to-do list, and your best focus playlist. We'll get some real work done together, then take breaks to chat, swap stories, and meet women from all kinds of backgrounds and industries. Tech, business, creative work, freelancing, school, and everything in between.

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