‘Breakfast with the Nation’ offers connections to reconciliation

By Alexandra Noad - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on January 23, 2025.

A Catholic church in Calgary recently hosted an event called ‘Breakfast with the Nation’ as a way to build connections with the Indigenous people.
St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church held the event this past Sunday, where residential school survivors were able to share their experiences to not only members of the faith, but also to clergy members.
The initiative was organized by Denis Grady, who has been an advocate for the Indigenous people for many years, and the church says it gladly stood behind his idea.
Residential schools were run by religious organizations and were funded by the federal government.
The last residential school closed in 1996.
This year’s keynote speaker was Blood Tribe member Alvin Mills, who attended both the St. Paul’s Residential School and the St Mary’s Residential School on the Blood Reserve.
He says it was an honour to be able to share his experiences and is a full circle moment for him.
“For me, it was almost like coming full circle, being in the schools and then to be able to be with the clergy and for them to hear first-hand what I went through.”
Mills says while he was nervous to give his speech, he found being able to speak from the heart gave him the confidence he needed.
He spoke not only about the residential schools, but also the struggles with addiction and incarceration that followed after, as well as the events that led him to find his life again and his hope to help others like him.
Willy Big Bull, another Blood Tribe member, shared his talents with a musical performance for the crowd.
Big Bull says it was a great multicultural group who were gathered together and while he has been to many events surrounding truth and reconciliation, this was stood out to him as something special.
“This is the Roman Catholic Church and their representatives, sitting there and listening to people like Mills explain his life and how his trajectory was changed because of his experience in residential schools.”
Big Bull adds that many times organizations are happy to donate to the cause of truth and reconciliation, it is open dialogue such as the one that took place on happen is what truth and reconciliation is really about.
“(Everyone who spoke) had very meaningful things to say and I feel like the people who were sitting there in the congregation were the type of that need to hear that kind of stuff,” said Big Bull. “Especially coming from their leaders within their own congregation that conversation is being had and I think it means more than what dollars are being spent on.”
Big Bull is a firm believer that you can’t have reconciliation without truth, and that you can’t have truth and reconciliation while pointing fingers and victim blaming. He says an open dialogue from both sides is essential to the cause.
Big Bull says he believes the event was a beacon of light and is hopeful the conversation around truth and reconciliation was instilled in the people. He says he hopes that will continue because of the efforts of the church and organizer Denis Grady, who the breakfast will be named after under his honorary Blackfoot name Espoom’tah, which translates to The Helper.
“I think that will resonate throughout their congregations and that will carry over into conversations at people’s houses,” says Big Bull. “I’m hopeful it will carry over into their conversations as well in a more meaningful and truthful way.”

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