Join us on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025, from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM (PST), for “To Bear Witness: A Meaningful Conversation about my Mom on Belonging and Perseverance.” In this Indigenous Speakers Series session, we will bear witness to a meaningful conversation between Derek Thompson and Maï Yasué, Associate Director of the REDI Office, about Derek’s mom, Maude Thompson. Maude was originally scheduled to be the guest speaker, but she sadly passed away a month before the event. A Haisla First Nations woman and Survivor of the Indian residential school system, Maude was a thoughtful, generous and loving human being —a Mom, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Auntie, Sister, and Daughter—who persevered in the face of incredible hardships. For nearly 40 years, Maude served as a cook for the Tsow-tun Le Lum Society – Substance Use and Trauma Treatment Centre providing nourishment, love, support, care, and inspiration to thousands of First Nations and Indigenous people.
Maude Thompson,
Mom & Chef
Maude was originally scheduled to be the guest speaker, but she sadly passed away a month before the event. In her honour, we will bear witness to a meaningful conversation between Derek Thompson and Maï Yasué, Associate Director of the REDI Office, about his mother, Maude Thompson.
Derek K Thompson – Čaabať Bookwilla | Suhiltun, Proud Son & Director, Indigenous Engagement
Maï Yasué,
Associate Director of the REDI Office
Description
Written by Derek K Thompson – Čaabať Bookwilla | Suhiltun, Proud Son
On June 11, 2008, my Mom, Maude Thompson, sat in the public gallery of the House of Commons in Ottawa, bearing witness to the formal apology to former students of the Indian residential school system in Canada. Throughout her life, she always said that all she ever wanted was for someone responsible to acknowledge and apologize for the wrongs committed against her as a little girl at the Alberni Indian Residential School. She spoke about the tensions between belonging and being dispossessed—of identity, culture, and language—the conflict between truth and the challenges of being fully truthful, the anxieties of making sense of the past while creating opportunities for her children and grandchildren, and the goodness that comes from being generous, mindful, and dignified despite adversity.
For years, whenever I asked my Mom to consider speaking in this important series, she would tell me she had nothing to offer. And yet, she had already given so much. As a Survivor of the Indian residential school system, a Haisla First Nations woman, and a thoughtful and generous human being, she carried deep wisdom. She was a Mom, a Grandmother, a Great-Grandmother, an Auntie, a Sister, a Daughter—a woman who persevered in the face of immense hardship.
For nearly 40 years, my Mom was a cook at Tsow-tun Le Lum Society – Substance Use and Trauma Treatment Centre, where she became a source of love, support, and care for thousands of First Nations and Indigenous people. Over the years, wherever I worked across BC, someone would always come up to me to share a memory of my Mom—a favourite meal she made, a time she listened when no one else would, a shoulder to cry on, or how she became the Auntie or Mom they never had.
My Mom leaves behind an enduring legacy, not just in our family but in the lives of so many. She gave of herself unconditionally—simply to belong, and in doing so, to help others feel they belonged too.
Topic: To Bear Witness: A Meaningful Conversation about my Mom on Belonging and Perseverance
Date: Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025
Time: 12:00 – 2:00 PM (PST)
What Will I Learn?
You will learn about a unique perspective about the processes of truth and reconciliation.
Continue Learning
“The time to make things happen is now. The time to seek out our individual and shared power is now.”
Learn more about REDI’s Indigenous Initiatives here
Discover more about REDI’s Indigenous Initiatives Speakers Series here
Find REDI’s Indigenous-Specific Resources here