Supporting Truth & Reconciliation

The National Day for Truth and Reconcilation is happening again this September 30th and Knox Church has an opportunity to live out the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 2015: making a donation to the Dr. Peter Bryce Indigenous Scholarship in Medicine. 

Initiated by Knox Church in early 2022, the scholarship is coordinated through the University of Ottawa's Bursary program, offering an annual award of $2000 to an applicant who is a full-time student in the Undergraduate Medical Education Program (UGME) in the Faculty of Medicine.    Applicants are also required to demonstrate financial need and meet the requirements of the University’s Eligibility for Focused Admissions, Scholarships and Bursaries for First Nations, Inuit and Metis people. Selection of an annual recipient is made by a committee composed of UOttawa's Director of Financial Aid and Awards, the Director of Indigenous Affairs and the Director of the Faculty of Medicine’s Indigenous Program.   The first $2000 scholarship was awarded in the Fall of 2023.  

In order to make this project an endowed scholarship (offered in perpetuity), $60,000 is required and to date we are grateful that over $27,000 has been donated!   Thank you to all who have contributed!    In the Fall of 2023, the Presbytery of Ottawa also voted in favour to support this scholarship and to recommend donations from all the Presbyterian congregations in the Ottawa area.   

The decision to name the scholarship after Dr. Peter Bryce was made following consultations with local and national indigenous leadership as well as denominational contacts. In 1907, while Dr. Bryce was Chief Medical Officer of the federal Department of the Interior and Indian Affairs, he wrote a report pointing to the high death rates in residential schools due to tuberculosis. The Government ignored his findings. In 1922, following his retirement, he published his report under the title “The Story of a National Crime: Being a Record of the Health Conditions of the Indians of Canada from 1904 to 1921”.  Dr. Bryce was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Canada which was responsible for a number of these schools.  He died in 1932 and is buried in Beechwood Cemetery, Canada's national cemetery here in Ottawa.   

This scholarship is in line with the spirit of the Confession to God and to Indigenous People, adopted by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada (PCC) in 1994.   Click the following link for a copy of this document along with a study guide: Confession.  In 2024, the General Assembly of the PCC also adopted an updated document with our Apology Regarding the Role in Colonialism and Residential Schools.   Click the following link for this document: Apology   

TO APPLY AS A STUDENT: If you are an indigenous student enrolled in the Undergrduate Medical Education program with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa, information for how to apply for this scholarship can be found HERE

TO DONATE TOWARD THE SCHOLARSHIP: Donations toward the scholarship are welcomed, whether from members of Knox, other congregations or non-affiliated individuals, and will be processed through the University of Ottawa Scholarship program. To make a donation to the scholarship, click either the English or French links below: