Today I blogged over at Canadian Writers Who Are Christian about the Kairos Heart Garden project and the upcoming Truth and Reconciliation closing ceremony.

On April 7^th, I received a message from Kairos, an ecumenical organization dedicated to social justice, from whom I get occasional email updates. The email told me that the formal Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process is coming to a close in Ottawa from May 31 to June 3, 2015. The celebration is to be a legacy for aboriginal and Inuit children who were taken from their homes and placed in residential schools.

I had not known that Inuit children were also involved, but I knew that aboriginal children had been. Children’s author Jennifer Maruno addresses the residential school issues in her book Totem, and how some children ran away to go back home. That hurtful initial step of placing the children in the residential schools, and all that followed, goes deep in aboriginal history.

The Heart Garden

Kairos invited individuals and churches across Canada to plant ‘heart gardens’ and send one to Ottawa for the special ceremony. Kairos intends TRC and the garden as a healing action.

To read more, go here.

While you’re there, read more from Canadian authors who are Christian. You will be inspired, entertained and encouraged.

May the ceremony at Ottawa be just as colourful.