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Truth and Reconciliation
Submitted by: Laura Ettagiak Orchard
Yellowknife Northwest TerritoriesI am 41 years old. I have lived in Yellowknife NWT for 22 years. I am Inuvialuk originally from Tuktoyatkuk NWT, Canada. I am married with two children and we have a cute mixed breed dog named Ollie. I am an artist and an extrovert.
I watched The Secret once in the summer of 2009 and made a dream board. I was cutting out all kinds of words and photos from magazines and glued them onto my board. I have it hanging in my hallway so I look at it everyday and to remind myself of what I want in my life.
In July 2010, I was hired to go to a small community called Fort Good Hope NWT for a week to work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada to interview residential school survivors and record their experiences. When the work was done, I came back home.
A month later after picking up our daughter from British Columbia and holidays, I showered and was blow drying my hair. In the mirror I could see my dream board and the words stood out to me so clear…they were, “Truth and Reconciliation”!!!!! I yelled so loud and told my husband and two children to stop what they were doing and wait for me to come down stairs. I brought my dream board down stairs, my heart pounding and almost in tears. I asked them if they noticed anything on the board. My daughter saw it right away but I had to point out to my husband and son the words, “Truth and Reconciliation”. We were all in awe! I was crying and thanking God for this.
In my mind when I was glueing the words on my board, I was thinking of becoming more true to myself in terms of healing and counselling in order to have peace within myself. I worked for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and met some people who I am friends with and will be for a lifetime. I have worked for them again this April and have gone to my hometown and also visited with family there. I also have a new guitar that was on my dream board and more peace than ever within myself.
I want to THANK YOU all for your stories and faith and also to Rhonda for being faithful and for writing all that you do. God bless!