"I've never been as hopeful in my life as I am at this moment," said the Right Rev. Mark MacDonald, National Indigenous Bishop for the Anglican Church, as he addressed an audience of students, faculty, and community members at the First Peoples Gathering Space in Trent’s Gzowski College.

Bishop MacDonald's message of hope came as he provided a perspective on the calls to action in the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). His keynote address highlighted a two-day visit to Trent, which included interaction with students, local clergy, and Peterborough citizens. The event was hosted by the First Peoples House of Learning and Trent Spiritual Affairs.

"At Trent we have an emphasis on Indigenous Studies and an awareness about First Nations," said the Reverend Glenn Empey, Trent's director of Spiritual Affairs. "This event was a way to spread that word wider at Trent and amongst the broader community."

During his talk, Bishop MacDonald described the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people as painful, because of the ways of thinking that have been embedded in churches, governments, and people.  But he described the TRC process as a “changing moment” that offers hope.

"There is so much more involved in these issues than what happened at the residential schools, but if they could get Canada to see the oppression through the eyes of children, then maybe they could get Canada to see the larger issues," he said, adding "People began to have hope, that although things are difficult and problematic, there is something that can be done, there is something that can move forward.”

Barbara Herring, a local community member interested in global Indigenous issues who attended the event said: "I was fascinated by Bishop MacDonald's talk because it was a new view. His vision that we will form a new country together was very exciting to me."