As Canadians we need to learn how to meaningfully engage in Reconciliation, you can take small actions to make reconciliation a part of your life and join in the rebuilding of our relationship with Indigenous culture. Throughout this project we learned how we can meaningfully participate in reconciliation and what reconciliation really means
What is Reconciliation?
Reconciliation is a continuous process of decolonizing Canada through recognizing discrimination against Indigneous people and uplifting the First Peoples. We need to recognize the harm caused by residential schools, unfair treatment and loss of Indigenous cultures and work to a better, more respectful future while still remembering the past abuses.
Key definitions
Some definitions we learned about this project…
Cultural Appropriation: Is when members of a majority group exploit cultural aspects of a minority group
Tokenism: Only a symbolic effort is made to portray an image of inclusivity without making any significant change.
Colonialism– A system where a powerful country seeks to control and exploit other territories, lands and peoples for economic, political and cultural benefit .
94 Calls to Action
The 94 Calls to Action ar actionable recommendations to aid in the healing process of Indigenous peoples in Canada. We can start this process by acknowledging the history of residential schools, creating a system to prevent a repeat of these actions and educating Canadians on the past of Indigenous people’s. These 94 calls are split into 6 sections, reconciliation, child welfare, education, language and culture, health and justice.
You can take individual action to implement these Truth and Reconciliation calls in your life. By educating yourself about the past of residential schools, helping to create awareness in your community by talking to people around you about these topics, acknowledging that you live on stolen land of the Indigenous peoples and practicing consistency of these actions throughout your life.
Before we got into our groups we all did individual work, we created a document that held all of our learning and notes about the 94 calls to action.
Progress of the 94 calls
https://youtu.be/UlO1ji48olI?si=cdgi98py-7CHYNRp
In the last 8 years since the creation of the recommendations only 13 calls out of the 94 have been completed. The estimated completion of these calls is 2081, 56 years from now. Such slow progress has made a lot of Indigenous communities frustrated, as it takes so much work and time for the government to make any sort of change.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission created the 94 recommendations to the goverment when they disabanded in 2015. The Commisson was created in 2007 after a Indian Residential School Settlement. They were formed to investaigate the full extent of the harm caused by residential schools, and propose solutions to prevent future abuse. They wanted to hear testimonies from residential school survivors, recommend policy changes and compile reports on residential schools.
Our Exhibition
For our display we created an interactive poster that described the 94 calls to actions. After understanding the basic’s of the 94 calls, you could go deeper in your learning by looking at the PowerPoint presentation we created.
We also included an interactive portion where you could write a call to action that you could apply to your own life. These answers were displayed on the screen where you could see your own personal contribution. We hoped by allowing you to think about the 94 calls of action on a personal level that it could help lead people to implementing change in their own lives and communities. We wanted to give the guests and experience that they could look back on and remember what they learned.
My favorite part of this exhibition was seeing all the contributions people made to our interactive display. So many more people participated then I expected and it was nice to see guests so eager to learn and contribute to reconciliation even if it was in a small way.
How might we engage in meaningful Reconciliation?
This may seem like a daunting question, and it’s easy to feel that one person alone can’t make a difference. However, when we all contribute, even in small ways, meaningful change becomes possible. You can take five minutes out of your day to reflect on how you can participate in reconciliation, think of a call to action you can take in your life or educate yourself and have a meaningful conversation with a loved one. Make sure you understand and acknowledge the experience of pain in the past and present of Indigenous communities. Even though a lot of the responsibility of reconciliation lies on the government, we as Canadian citizens can take time and effort to work towards a better future for all of Canada.
Thanks for reading!!