BRANTFORD – Woodland Cultural Centre is hosting new tours this coming November and December to make sure visitors can still learn about the Mohawk Institute Residential School while it is being renovated.
“Since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission final report was released, we’ve had a large increase in interest for tours of the Mohawk Institute and we didn’t want to stop offering tours just because of the renovations,” said the centre’s Education Co-ordinator Lorrie Gallant.
The new project, titled Survivor Series, is going to be held at the centre, just beside the old residential school building and is going to showcase a Mohawk Institute Survivor every month. The survivor will share their experience and tell their stories of living in one of Canada’s longest running Residential Schools.
“We’re going to have bits and pieces of the normal tour worked into our new series here at the centre,” said Gallant. “We have a lot of old photos we are digging up from our archives and we’ve taken a short video of the school’s interior that we’ll show before the survivor shares their story, followed by a time of question and answer.”
Gallant said that the series will be available for small or large groups and that some interest has already been shown so making sure to sing up early is important.
“A lot of the stories shared by survivors can cover some serious topics, like, sexual abuse, overworking students, families being split apart and things like that,” she said. “The tours will be accommodating to the youngest ages present — if there are very young children there then the speakers will do their best to keep important information in their presentation while also considering the age group of their audience.”
The dates for the series are November 14, November 28 and December 12. Tickets cost $10 per person and pre-registration is required.
