Ontario Chamber of Commerce delegates sew up quilt blocks for residential school survivors
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce hosted its Annual General Meeting and Convention this week in Timmins, Ont.
Around 100 delegates from throughout the province travelled to the city to take in some northern hospitality and set goals for the upcoming year.
One of the optional activities during the conference, held at Cedar Meadows Resort and Spa, was to create a square to be included in a quilt for a residential school survivor.
Founder of ‘Quilts for Survivors,’ Vanessa Genier was on hand with fabric, notions and sewing machines and taught interested delegates how to be part of a project that’s promoting truth and reconciliation.
“Once I have enough and I have several blocks now, I can probably make two tops, I'm going to start sewing them together and they'll be finished tops,” said Genier.
“Then I'll bring them to the studio and we'll pick them up and ship them off to a survivor.”
Ontario Chamber of Commerce officials said reconciliation with Indigenous peoples was one of its main agenda topics at this year’s gathering.
About 100 delegates from around the province travelled to Timmins, Ont., for its annual general meeting and convention at Cedar Meadows Resort and Spa. Quilts for Survivors founder Vanessa Genier (left) talks with Ontario Chamber of Commerce President Daniel Tisch (right) about her initiative. (Lydia Chubak/CTV News Northern Ontario)
Daniel Tisch, the chamber’s president and chief executive officer, told CTV News that the agenda for the northern Ontario meeting talks about some “pretty fundamental” things.
“We're talking about the development of the mining industry. We're talking about critical infrastructure and how we build better infrastructure to connect the, you know, minerals in the north to the manufacturing in the south of Ontario. We're talking about how to retrain, retain the brilliant talent that northern Ontario develops,” he said, on Friday.
“And – we're talking about reconciliation with Indigenous people, businesses, nations and communities. And those are probably the, I'd say, the four items that are highest in terms of the agenda that we have in the room today.”
The conference wraps up on April 27.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING 122 active wildfires burning across Canada, 32 considered 'out of control'
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
B.C. parents sentenced to 15 years for death of 6-year-old boy
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has sentenced the mother and stepfather of a six-year-old boy who died from blunt-force trauma in 2018 to 15 years in prison.
Veteran TSN sportscaster Darren Dutchyshen has died
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57. His family says 'he passed as he was surrounded by his closest loved ones.'
Police issue Canada-wide warrant for Regina homicide suspect
Police have issued a Canada-wide warrant for a man wanted in a homicide which occurred in Regina on May 12.
Kevin Spacey receives star support as he fights to get his career back
Kevin Spacey is pushing back on the 'rush to judgment' against him and is being backed by some big names as he seeks to reclaim his acting career.
Speaker cuts ties with Sask. Party, alleges he faced threats, harassment from gov't MLAs
The Speaker of the Saskatchewan Legislature Randy Weekes has severed ties with the Sask. Party after accusing some members of harassment and intimidation tactics, including a situation he claimed saw the Government House Leader bring a hunting rifle to the legislative building.
Trudeau calls New Brunswick's Conservative government a 'disgrace' on women's rights
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assailed New Brunswick's premier and other conservative leaders on Thursday, calling out the provincial government's position on abortion, LGBTQ youth and climate change.
A Toronto man killed his mother and decapitated her. His lawyers argue it wasn't murder
A ‘lifetime of abuse’ led Dallas Ly to snap and repeatedly stab his mother inside their Leslieville apartment in 2022 but he never intended to kill her, his defence lawyers argued during his murder trial in Toronto on Thursday.
Father charged with second-degree murder in daughter's stabbing death southwest of Montreal
A father has been charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his 34-year-old daughter in southern Quebec.