Naty Atz Sunuc, an Indigenous woman and KAIROS partner from Guatemala, to participate in the BC National Event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Vancouver

Naty Atz Sunuc, an Indigenous woman and KAIROS partner from Guatemala, to participate in the BC National Event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Vancouver

September 6, 2013 by KAIROS
KAIROS is facilitating the participation of Naty Atz Sunuc, a partner from Guatemala, as an international witness at the BC National Event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Vancouver.

Naty Atz is the general coordinator of CEIBA, the Association of Community Development and Promotion in Guatemala, a long time partner of KAIROS. She is a Mayan woman, the daughter of a catechist, and a survivor and orphan of the armed conflict in Guatemala in the 1980s who has become a highly respected human rights defender and community activist.

Naty’s presence at the TRC will bring international witness and solidarity to this important and historic process, as well as deepen and strengthen relationships with and between Indigenous peoples here in Canada and in Guatemala.

Naty Atz SunucNaty will be in Vancouver from September 15-23. She will participate in a number of pre- TRC events including an ecumenical service, Seeking Truth and Reconciliation, and a public event, From History to HerStory: the Power of Women’s Testimony in Truth and Reconciliation, organized by the local KAIROS committees and other sponsors. Naty will also have the opportunity to bring witness and solidarity to the official program of the TRC in Vancouver in her capacity as an international partner and dignitary. KAIROS will facilitate the blanket exercise during the education day of the TRC (Sept 19), a day in which thousands of students are expected to attend.

Historically, our Southern partners have called on Canadian citizens, churches and NGOs to bear witness to and participate in human rights tribunals and processes in their countries; for KAIROS, these have included Colombia, Sudan, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Guatemala. They have spoken to us of the importance of memory, testimony, and truth-telling in the pursuit of justice, as a vital part of understanding history and ensuring that these atrocities never happen again (“nunca mas”). Now, global partner are being called to Canada to witness the TRC, to hear testimonies from residential school survivors, to learn about the history of Indigenous peoples in Canada and to support processes for justice and reconciliation here in Canada.

For more information on KAIROS participation and partner presence at the BC National event of TRC in Vancouver please contact Katy Quinn, Indigenous rights program coordinator (kquinn@kairoscanada.org) or Rachel Warden, Latin American partnerships/gender justice program coordinator (rwarden@kairoscanada.org)