On Thurs., Nov. 7, Connie Walker, a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning Cree investigative journalist, visited campus to share her presentation “Truth Before Reconciliation.” Her talk was attended by members of the Oneida Nation, Hamilton students and professors. Walker’s presentation included reflections from her podcasts, where she uncovers the history of Indigenous residential schools through the lens of her family’s experiences there. Walker also spoke about her career uncovering stories and raising awareness for horrific amounts of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Walker is a member of the Okanese First Nation and has dedicated her career to shedding light on overlooked and underrepresented Indigenous stories. During her presentation, she discussed the case of Pamela George, an Indigenous woman who was kidnapped and murdered by two white men, Steven Tyler Kummerfield and Alexander Dennis Ternowetsky, before being left on the side of the road. Walker explained how George’s story, and the disappointing outcome of the court case that followed, never received sufficient media attention. Walker also talked about the case of an Indigenous woman, Amber, whose case is still unsolved. Walker played the recording of a phone call Amber made to her brother while she was in the car with the man who would cause her disappearance. Amber wasn’t heard from again and while her mother reported her disappearance, the police did not immediately take action. Walker later discussed a case where a woman was kidnapped from her home.

In Walker’s podcast series “Stolen” she uncovers stories of Indigenous boarding schools. For more than a century, Indigenous children in Canada and the United States were taken from their homes to attend federal boarding schools to effectively strip them of their cultures. Richard H. Pratt, founder of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, explained the system’s intent was to “kill the Indian in him and save the man.” Walker investigates the St. Michael’s school in Alert Bay, British Columbia, where her father was sexually abused.

Walker conducted research by interviewing priests and investigating archives, working to tell her father’s story and expose St. Michael’s child abuse. Walker shared that multiple family members of hers were abused in boarding schools. Her work is driven by her goal of making sure people know the truth about the residential school system, and telling survivors’ stories.