News / 2024

NEW: TAS’s Reconciliation Action Plan

Published:

June 19, 2024

News & Stories

Today, we proudly released our Reconciliation Action Plan. The Plan is intended to guide our actions as we work to integrate Indigenous knowledge, practices, and norms into the way we operate and do business.

It was crafted with the expertise of Creative Fire, a consulting agency owned by the Des Nedhe Group, the economic development arm of the English River First Nation, as well as input from staff, Indigenous leaders, and rights holders.  

The Plan is structured around six pillars, reflecting the areas that we feel we can best contribute to reconciliation:

  1. Education: Providing cultural competency training and professional development for the TAS team.
  2. Engagement: Building meaningful relationships and collaborations with Indigenous organizations and communities.
  3. Ceremony: Hosting site activations, land ceremonies, storytelling, and cultural events.
  4. Stewardship and Placekeeping: Integrating Indigenous design principles, worldviews, and languages into TAS projects.
  5. Economic Empowerment: Offering affordable housing, below-market commercial space, social procurement, and investment opportunities for Indigenous businesses and communities.
  6. Governance: Ensuring impact measurement and leadership accountability within TAS.

The living document will be iterated over time as we learn by doing and continue to understand the interests of the Indigenous People. Progress will be reported on in our annual Impact Report.

Walmer Road – Indigenous People’s Day Celebration

One of the actions in the Plan is to engage the broader community around TAS’s sites through Indigenous storytelling, workshops, cultural events, ceremonies, or other initiatives, in partnership with Indigenous organizations or community groups.

We are excited to begin delivering on this action with the Walmer Road Legacy Space Celebration, happening later this week. The annual event is hosted by TAS with our partners at the Walmer Road Baptist Church and the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund.  It is an opportunity for neighbours and friends in the Annex and surrounding neighbourhoods to learn about and celebrate the history, heritage, resilience, and diversity of First Nations,

For generations, many Indigenous groups and communities have celebrated their culture and heritage on June 21 or around that time of year because of the significance of the summer solstice as the longest day of the year.

To learn more about the event and to RSVP please visit the event page.