Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Our Heart Learning project is offering offering four learning opportunities to explore reconciliation, anti-racism and building a healthy community in Campbell River. The first workshop is a virtual event facilitated by Mary Catherine Williams on Thursday March 24th. She described it as a journey of reconciliation for nonprofits. This will be followed by a series of workshops about responding to racist incidents. Finally Kathy Camilleri will be holding an in-person, or virtual, event about the building bridges to understanding. “All the workshops are free and people can register online and they can do that through event. We have space in all our workshops. Everyone is welcome,” explained Williams, who is both an organizer of the project and Executive Director of Volunteer Campbell River.“This is a heart journey and that's why the project is called Q̓aq̓uƛ̓aʔinē sa Noqe , which is the Laich Kwil Tach words for ‘learning in your heart’ or ‘heart and learning.’ And that to me is the essence of this is that we need to begin to understand from a heart perspective, from an emotional perspective, not a head's perspective necessarily, a way to move forward together, to be safe and healthy in our communities. It is about changing our ways of thinking and knowing on both sides.”Mary Ruth Snyder, Executive Director of the Campbell River & District Chamber of Commerce, said, “Canada as a country came to an abrupt halt last spring with the news of the discovery of children's graves at former residential schools. I think for many Canadians while they may have suspected, that was the case, they didn't know for sure and it is easily set aside as hearsay. When it became abundantly clear that it was in fact true at not just one, but several locations across the country. I think the reality of the nations experience over the last 150 years came in to focus for those of us who are not first nations. The only way for us to move forward as a society holistically is to acknowledge what happened, to listen to those who are able to share their stories, acknowledge their truths, and only then can we move forward with the first nations towards reconciliation? These workshops will assist in that process.”