In anticipation of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's upcoming Vancouver run of Going Home Star - Truth and Reconciliation, the RWB and Vancouver Public Library will host a public dialogue on March 9 (Wednesday).

Titled Expressions of Reconciliation: A Forum of Truth, Hope, and Understanding, the free forum will be hosted by CBC's Andrew Chang, and will include presentations by Tyrone McNeil, president of the First Nations Education Steering Committee, Bob Baker of the Eagle Song Dancers, and Sophia Lee, principal dancer with the RWB.

It will discuss the lasting effects of Canada's residential school on First Nations survivors, their families, and Canadians, in an effort to cultivate reconciliation for future generations.

Going Home Star was created with the support of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Comission, and it seeks to share both the told and untold experiences of First Nations residential school survivors and their families.

The original work, which took over a decade to complete, was comissioned by the RWB's artistic director André Lewis, and includes contributions from a number of Canadian artists, including award-winning novelist Joseph Boyden, choreographer Mark Godden, and renowned composer Christos Hatzis. Music from Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq and Steve Wood & the Northern Cree Singers is also featured in the production. 

The forum will take place in the Alice MacKay room in the lower level of the VPL's Central LIbrary (350 West Georgia) from 7 to 8:30 p.m. 

Going Home Star runs from April 7 to 9 at Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Find tickets here.