In June 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its final report on Canada’s Indian residential school system. The report included 94 recommendations that called upon the federal government to not only assist with improving the lives of Indigenous people in Canada, but to establish a new relationship with First Nations based on reconciliation.
Thanks to the bravery of residential school survivors, a new light has been shed on Canada’s dark history. The truth has uncovered some of the most haunting effects of residential schools, but reconciliation is an ongoing, collaborative effort that involves us all.
The TRC reports in its executive summary that reconciliation is not an Aboriginal problem, but a Canadian one. But what do we consider reconciliation to be?
It can mean the federal government working with First Nation communities to increase the living standards of Indigenous people on reserves. It can mean adding Indigenous narratives to history books, or honouring the true spirit and intent of all treaties between Canada and Indigenous nations.
Yes, reconciliation can mean all that. However, we as individuals also have a role to play.
Reconciliation is an ongoing process that requires the decolonization of our minds, whether we are Indigenous or not. Decolonization simply means unlearning what we think we know, and relearning the Indigenous-Canadian relationship in a new way. Echoing the words of Wab Kinew, author of The Reason You Walk, colonization in Canada hurt everyone because the whole country is poorer for it: socially, culturally, and economically.
We should all make an effort to understand the process of decolonization. An effective way of doing this is by attending events such as those put on by the Aboriginal Service Centre each month.
For example, the centre hosts an ongoing discussion about mental health, and grapples with topics such as overcoming intergenerational trauma, and Western versus Indigenous methods of healing, allyship, and support. Another example is a sexual health activity night that aims to decolonize Indigenous sexuality–two things someone may not normally think to put in the same sentence. But that is what decolonization is about: thinking in different ways.
We may have uncomfortable feelings at first should we choose to attend these events, but we as a society cannot afford to ignore them any longer. Failing to redress the longstanding effects of colonization will only hurt the process of reconciliation.
