The Power of Memoir and Storytelling:

What can we learn from the trauma of the past?

April 24, 2018.

Two men who grew up across the world from one another and survived different traumatic events during their childhoods are coming together to discuss what they have learned from their past and how they have moved toward healing.

Theodore Fontaine, former chief of the Sagkeeng Ojibway First Nation and survivor of the Fort Alexander and Assiniboia Indian Residential Schools, is joined by Nate Leipciger who, as a teenager, survived several Nazi concentration camps and a death march.

The two will talk about the process of writing their memoirs: Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools, a Memoir and The Weight of Freedom. This conversation about loss, trauma and the writing of memoirs will highlight the unique and personal nature of each of their experiences while also showing how their experiences intersect on the journey toward healing.

On Sunday, April 29, at 7:00 p.m., in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Mr. Leipciger and Mr. Fontaine will be joined by moderator Leora Schaefer, the Executive Director of Facing History and Ourselves Canada.

Nate Leipciger’s memoir is one of 75 memoirs published by the Azrieli Foundation and is distributed free of charge to educational institutions across Canada. The program is guided by the conviction that such stories play an important role in education about tolerance and diversity. www.azrielifoundation.org

This event is free and open to the public. To register for the evening, please visit powerofmemoir.eventbrite.com or call 204-289-2000.

ABOUT THE AZRIELI FOUNDATION
For 25 years, the Azrieli Foundation has funded institutions as well as operated programs on the ground. The Foundation supports Holocaust education, music and the arts, scientific and medical research, higher education, youth empowerment and school perseverance, architecture, and quality of life initiatives for people with developmental disabilities. www.azrielifoundation.org

For more information about the Foundation, please contact abby@azrielifoundation.org.

Posted in Press Release