Reconciliation

Aboriginal success best way forward

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s closing event in Ottawa showed us glimpses of Canada at its best and at its worst. We were reminded of the dark moments in our history when Commissioner Murray Sinclair declared the residential school era to be part of a “cultural genocide” against indigenous people. Yet we were also reminded of our best, most welcoming nature when a round dance broke out in the lobby outside the event. Residential school survivors, their descendants and non-indigenous supporters danced hand in hand in a public expression of the very cultures that had been targeted for eradication. Most of the TRC’s 94 calls to action can be boiled down to a similar ethos: Let’s learn about Aboriginal Peoples and cultures so we can get on with the business of living together in a good way.

The damage of the residential school era was put into personal terms by former Northwest Territories premier Stephen Kakfwi. Speaking during a ceremony Tuesday morning, Kakfwi stated “as a residential school survivor I didn’t get to know my mother and father.” He went on to say he spent this past Christmas with his 94-year-old mother for the first time since he was five, nearly 60 years ago. What a long journey for justice, healing and personal reconciliation it has been for survivors like Kakfwi.

The TRC’s findings about experiences like Kakfwi’s are crucial to Canada’s future. This is not about being stuck in the past or cataloguing long-ago injustices.

An attitude of cultural superiority made the residential school era possible. Echoes of it are still with us today in an education system that doesn’t fully celebrate the contributions First Nations, Métis and Inuit people have made to our country. It lives on in a contemporary child-welfare system which, the report says, sees “aboriginal poverty as a symptom of neglect, rather than as a consequence of failed government policies.” It persists in our public sphere with attitudes that prefer to pathologize indigenous people, rather than acknowledge the broader historical context.

These points may be difficult to hear, much less the term “cultural genocide.” But confronting the truth always makes you stronger, and shattering the myth of indigenous inferiority will make our country better.

Our country is already great. But how much greater will Canada be when every young person grows up learn- ing that indigenous cultures are not something to be looked down upon, but rather sources of inspiration and innovation? How much richer will this nation be when every child grows up with a quality education and clean drinking water? How much stronger will the fabric of this country be when we realize that indigenous people are not a burden but rather an important part of what makes our place on earth unique?

Not pursuing the TRC’s recommendations is a fool’s errand. It means another generation of indigenous children raised by the culture of pov- erty rather than the culture of their ancestors, wasted potential at a time when we need our economy to grow, and you can be sure there would be more uncertainty for the resource industry.

What can you do? Make the TRC’s report, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future, your summer reading. Beyond that, learn about the indigenous cultures and history. It might not hurt to ask the federal politicians campaigning this fall how many of the TRC’s recommendations they plan to implement.

And to my young indigenous brothers and sisters, the best way you can honour the residential school survivors is to go out and make the most of the opportunities they never had. So long as you can do it in a way that is consistent with our cultures, your personal success is the best form of reconciliation.

An hour after telling his story, Kakfwi held his young granddaughter in his arms. Together they smiled and listened as the TRC commissioners, including Kakfwi’s wife Marie Wilson, delivered their final report. The family bond that had been broken long ago had been put back together.

Yet in working for that sort of personal reconciliation and demanding justice for themselves, Kakfwi and the other residential school survivors have also given all of us a chance to do better as a nation. The TRC has shown us some truths about ourselves, Canada at its best and at its worst. It’s now up to us to choose together which path we would like to pursue.

What can you do? Make the TRC’s report your summer reading