National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Indigenous rights and children's rights go hand-in-hand
It’s Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Also known as Orange Shirt Day. Today is a day to learn, reflect, and act.
Learn
Read the executive summary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s final report. Or, at the very least, read the 94 Calls to Action.
Talk to the children in your life about Truth and Reconciliation using some of the resources provided by the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society.
Head over the the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation for various live streams throughout the day or to watch some of the videos from earlier in the week.
Reflect
Write a personal acknowledgment of settler responsibility and commitment to reconciliation. It’s not easy. It takes time and probably a little research. But it can help get you into the mindset of taking reconciliation seriously.
Here’s mine — a work in progress — that I initially wrote on the heels of National Indigenous Peoples Day and in light of the news of unmarked graves of children found at former residential school sites:
I live and work on the traditional and unceded territories of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg people. The settler name for this area is Ottawa-Gatineau.
I came to the country called Canada as a child with two loving parents of European descent. We settled along the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the area covered by the Dish with One Spoon wampum, on the treaty lands and territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit. For four years prior to our arrival in in Ontario, we lived outside what is known as New York City, in the traditional territory of the Munsee Lenape, who were driven from their lands by colonizers. I was born in Japan, where assimilationist policies sought to eradicate the Indigenous Ainu peoples of the island now named Hokkaidō. In all these places, I and my family benefited from government policies that favour certain people over others — we benefited from settler privilege. We still do.
At the time, I did not know that Indigenous peoples had lived and continue to live in these places. Now I know.
At the time, I did not know about the disproportionate violence faced by Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit persons. Now I know.
At the time, I did not know that Indigenous children had been and continue to be forcibly taken from their families. Now I know.
At the time, I did not know that the governments that had welcomed my family as settlers sought to destroy the Indigenous families who have lived here since time immemorial. Now I know.
As part of my role in reconciliation, I commit to:
– learning about the peoples of the lands I occupy and sharing my learning with those around me.
– calling for the full respect of Indigenous peoples, their rights to self-determination, and their rights to reparations for the genocide perpetrated against them through settler colonial policies.
– calling for the dismantling of ongoing genocidal policies that permeate the settler colonial systems imposed on this land.
– calling out those who deny Indigenous peoples’ dignity.
– conducting myself and my work in accordance with the above commitments.
Act
Show public solidarity with Indigenous peoples: march, put a sign in your window or on your lawn, put up stickers and posters, promote Indigenous artists and makers in your social circles. Whatever you can do to push back against the cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples.
Tell the federal government to stop fighting Indigenous children and families in court. The Federal Court of Appeal yesterday rejected the government’s attempt to overturn two orders, one for compensation for discrimination in Indigenous child welfare and the other for expansion of Jordan’s Principle to non-status Indigenous children. It’s a long-fought win for Indigenous children and families. However, the government still has the option of seeking appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Ask your elected officials — federally, provincially, locally — about their progress on the Calls to Action and what their plan is to implement them in their jurisdictions. For your federal officials in particular, ask what specific steps will be taken to ensure Canada’s implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples actually happens and is not just words on a page.
Talk to your local schools about what steps they are taking toward reconciliation with Indigenous people and how they are implementing Indigenous curricula.
Ask the children in your life how they would like to work toward reconciliation and support them in doing so.