Reconciliation
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued an interim report and 94 “calls to action” in June 2015. The Indian Residential Schools Program was, it declared, part of a Canadian policy to “eliminate Aboriginal governments; ignore Aboriginal rights; terminate the Treaties; and, through a process of assimilation, cause Aboriginal peoples to cease to exist as distinct, legal, social, cultural, religious and ethnic entities in Canada.” This was more than an unfortunate episode in Canada’s history: the residential schools were and continue to be part of a structural violence against Indigenous peoples that continues to define this country—a genocidal governing architecture that must be dismantled for true reconciliation to be possible.
This issue of the Monitor explores what real reconciliation might look like, not just in Ottawa, where the new government has promised to “hit reset” on its relationship with First Nations, but for all of us. “Together, Canadians must do more than just talk about reconciliation; we must learn how to practise reconciliation in our everyday lives—within ourselves and our families, and in our communities, governments, places of worship, schools, and workplaces,” concluded the TRC. “For Canadians from all walks of life, reconciliation offers a new way of living together.”
Here is a sample of what you will find in this issue:
- Reconciling in the Apocalypse, by Erica Lee
- Making reconciliation work, a conversation with Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations
- The kids won, what now? Andrea Auger discusses the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal finding of discrimination in Canada’s Indigenous child welfare programs
- Peace, not pacification, in Syria, by Robin Yassin-Kassab
- Does Canada’s EU trade deal threaten local food systems? Amy Wood argues it does
Cover illustration by Julie Flett
