Please note: This session has been rescheduled from January 16 to April 23 due to unforeseen circumstances.
Join us on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025, from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM (PST), for “To Bear Witness: A Meaningful Conversation with my Mom on Belonging and Perseverance.” In this Indigenous Speakers Series session, we will bear witness to a meaningful conversation between Derek and his mom, Maude Thompson. Maude is a First Nations Haisla woman, a Survivor of the Indian residential school experience, and a thoughtful and generous human being. She is a Mom, a Grandmother, a Great-Grandmother, an Auntie, a Sister, a Daughter, and a woman who has persevered in the face of incredible hardship. For nearly 40 years, Maude has 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.
Please note that this Indigenous Speakers Series session has been rescheduled from Thursday, January 16th to Wednesday, April 23rd from 12:00 – 2:00 PM (PT).
Speaker Bio
Maude Thompson,
Mom & Chef
Moderator
Derek K Thompson – Čaabať Bookwilla | Suhiltun, Proud Son & Director, Indigenous Engagement
Description
Written by Derek K Thompson – Čaabať Bookwilla | Suhiltun, Proud Son
On June 11th, 2008, my Mom, Maude Thompson, was in the public gallery in the House of Commons in Ottawa to bear witness to the formal statement of apology to former students of the Indian Residential School experience in Canada. My Mom has always stated over the course of her life that all she ever wanted was for someone responsible to apologize for the wrongs committed against her as a little girl while she was at the Alberni Indian Residential School. She also talks about the tensions between belonging and being dispossessed of identity, culture and language, the conflict between truth and the not-so-straightforward ability to be truthful, the anxieties of trying to make sense of the past and creating opportunities for her children and grandchildren to thrive, and the goodness that comes from being generous, mindful and dignified despite adversities.
My Mom has told me that she has nothing to offer whenever I’ve asked her to consider speaking in this important series, and now she’s finally agreed to be here so that she and I can talk about these important issues within the context of truth, reconciliation and redress. She has a lot to offer about her experiences as survivor of the Indian residential school experience, as a First Nations Haisla woman, as a thoughtful and generous human being, and as a Mom, a Grandmother, a Great-Grandmother, an Auntie, a Sister, a Daughter, and as a woman who has persevered in the face of incredible hardship.
My Mom has been a cook for the Tsow-tun Le Lum Society – Substance Use and Trauma Treatment Centre for nearly 40 years, and she’s been a source of love, support, care, and inspiration for thousands of First Nations and Indigenous people. Wherever I’ve worked over the years across BC, nearly every time someone has come up to me and shared a fond memory of my Mom — a favourite meal she cooked, how she listened when seemingly no one else did, a shoulder to cry on, how she became the Auntie or Mom they never had, and many other touching stories. My Mom has created an enduring legacy in the lives of many people and has given so much of herself unconditionally, all in an effort to simply belong and, in doing so, to make others feel like they also belong
Topic: To Bear Witness: A Meaningful Conversation with 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 between a mother and her son regarding 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.”
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Discover more about REDI’s Indigenous Initiatives Speakers Series here
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