Our Four Pillars
Advocacy:
Survivors’ Secretariat is committed to amplifying the voices of Survivors and honouring their lived experiences, ensuring their truths are heard and their legacy is preserved for future generations.
We Strive To:
- Create a brave and supportive space where memories, experiences, and histories can be shared openly.
- Amplify Survivors’ voices and honour their legacy for future generations.
- Foster Nation-to-Nation dialogues with impacted communities and engage in the work associated with missing children and unmarked burial searches.
- Foster meaningful dialogues with impacted communities.
- Providing education and awareness and promoting our organization’s work and sharing what we learned with other organizations seeking to conduct investigations in their own communities.
Our Progress
- Published the Knowledge is Sacred Truth is Healing Report detailing the impact of funding cuts.
- Begun Protocol Development to Protect Lands Associated with Indian Residential Schools on lands held by Six Nations of the Grand River.
- Permit Flagging System with City of Brantford.
- Attended conferences nationwide related to the search for unmarked burials and missing children.
- 7 municipalities sent letters of support for the release of documents relevant to the Mohawk Institute to Survivors’ Secretariat.
Our Challenges:
- Applying for, reporting on, and securing new funding is a complex and time-consuming process which often strains resources. This is further hindered when funders fail to meet their committed timelines to flow funds to the organization, delaying critical work.
- Extending advocacy efforts beyond the existing Survivor network is difficult but essential to amplifying their voices.
- The advancing age of Survivors limits their ability to travel and participate in gatherings, complicating collective efforts.
- Reaching potential allies who have yet to declare their support is an ongoing obstacle.