“Movement is medicine,” says Reconciliation Run director Tréchelle Bunn
Bunn plays a powerful role bringing her community together in hope and healing
Tréchelle Bunn is a change-maker, uplifting her community toward healing and providing education, awareness and inspiration to many. The 23-year-old athlete, university student and activist directed the second annual Reconciliation Run Half-Marathon on Sept. 30 (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation).
Bunn is a member of Chan Kagha Otina Dakhóta Oyáte (Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation), a varsity hockey player, and law student at the University of Manitoba, as well as the Female Youth Chief of the Southern Chief’s Organization.
This year’s Reconciliation Run included an official satellite event in Winnipeg (and several unofficial ones) that added to the spirit of reconciliation and the powerful message the event shares, as well as allowing runners who don’t live near Birtle, Manitoba, to participate.
“An event that began in honour of my Kunshi Mildred and Unkan Donald has now impacted hundreds of individuals across Turtle Island. Today and every day, let us honour Survivors and all of those who never made it home,” Bunn shared post-event.
The Reconciliation Run has its origins in a Healing Walk that Bunn organized in 2021 on behalf of her community, to honour residential school survivors. “The 26 km walk began with a ceremony at the former Birtle Residential School and concluded when we made it home to my community, Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation,” Bunn says. Her grandparents were survivors of the Birtle Residential School.
The walk was powerful for the community, and since the 26 km distance was close to a half-marathon, Bunn decided to bring the event to life again, this time with a run. The Manitoba Runners’ Association sanctions the event.
Supporting her community in exercise
Bunn believes that movement is medicine. She hopes to bring “people across the country together while providing education and a meaningful event to partake in on a day meant for reflection and learning.”
As a part of the Under Armour Diversity Series, Bunn was awarded a $5,000 donation toward the Reconciliation run and the Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation. She used her donation to gift every child in Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation a new pair of running shoes, distributing 213 pairs of shoes in August on what she dubbed Under Armour Day.
Satellite run a huge success
Big Sky Run Co., a running store in Winnipeg, hosted a very successful satellite event this year. The running store said the had the honour of hosting mental health advocate Tarrant Cross Child as a guest speaker earlier this year, and Cross Child connected the store with several runs and community leaders, including Bunn.
The satellite route was mapped to include places of reflection, including Louis Riel‘s gravesite. Race co-director and store owner René Tellier explained that with Bunn’s help, “I was able to meet with Brian Rice, a First Nations Land Instructor with the University of Manitoba, to modify the route to include even more points of reflection, adding even more depth of meaning to the run.”
Bunn is looking ahead to future events. “My hope for the future of the run is to continue to see it grow so that it can provide healing, reflection and awareness across Turtle Island (North America), she says. “This year we had participants registered from coast to coast in Canada. We also had some participants from the US (Maine, California and Montana).”
Under Armour has teamed up with Canadian Running to produce the Under Armour Diversity Series—an exclusive feature content series designed to highlight and promote individuals and organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to grow the sport of running, support those who are underrepresented and help others. The series will feature stories and podcasts highlighting these extraordinary Canadians who are making a difference in their communities and on the national running scene.
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