Reconciliation has a long way to go in province

We need to confront reality that racism continues to exist

This has become a year of reconciliation, but as we approach the end of 2017 it is apparent that much remains to be done.

Reconciliation is a strange dichotomy, with both outstanding support and continuing ignorance. Traditionally, social changes don’t move forward in lockstep, but we are witnessing two different streams flowing in opposite directions.

On one hand, reconciliation is a buzzword among media, politicians and academics. Speeches are opened with people giving recognition to those who have traditionally occupied the territory where the venue is located.

Saskatchewan civic governments have embraced reconciliation and adopted the 94 calls to action set forth by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which grew out of the residential school settlement.

However, while there is a new awareness and enthusiasm for change in certain sectors of society, racism and old attitudes persist among others. The death of Colten Boushie and the subsequent charge of second-degree murder laid against Gerald Stanley have shown the grim underside of rural racism in Saskatchewan. Reconciliation here is but a distant dream.

Reconciliation is supposed to be a double process of reaching out to each other and quiet reflection about our society and what we can do to improve it. This apparently has been lost among many.

Ezekial Bigknife liked to shop at the Giant Tiger store in Regina; however, he was usually tailed by a store employee. In Saskatchewan our people are profiled and old racist stereotypes persist. If you are white and are seen running down the street, then you must be a jogger; however, if you are an Indigenous person and you are running down the same street, then you must have stolen something.

If you are Indigenous and shopping in a store, then you must be a potential thief. So Ezekial was followed by a store employee and had put up with enough of this harassment. It’s a common experience among Aboriginal people in Western Canada. We are either followed because we look suspicious or sales staff ignore us because we look poor and a waste of time.

Ezekial filmed the store employee and placed the video on social media. Much to his surprise, it was shared and went viral.

Giant Tiger is a chain with deep roots in Indian country. In 2001, the North West Company entered into a master franchise agreement with Giant Tiger to operate 72 stores in Western Canada by 2032. The North West Company is the company that bought out the Hudson’s Bay stores and now operates 122 Northern Stores across Canada.

The North West Company owes its survival to Indigenous people across Canada’s north, and when those people move to the cities the chances are that they will shop at a Giant Tiger; if they are in Western Canada, it will likely be owned by the North West Company.

The higher ups have since apologized and the offending employee has been released. However, one would think that a company with its history would be more appreciative of its Aboriginal clientele.

Saskatchewan continues to be a conflicted province, with some embracing reconciliation and working to create a positive path forward. Meanwhile, others either ignore reality or continue to sow division and hatred.

Saskatchewan Party candidate Ken Cheveldayoff stated in an interview with CBC that he feels the province doesn’t have a problem with race relations and growing up in a small town he never knew racism existed. He is running for the leadership of a rural-based, right-wing party, so it’s to be expected that he would put on his rosecoloured glasses and look the other way.

Instead of appealing to the party’s base, he could have stood for reconciliation and not ignored the reality of racism in this province.

Indigenous people in Saskatchewan and Canada are undergoing enormous change. The migration to urban areas is creating new problems and our growing rural population is sowing fear among the dwindling rural white population. We as a country are undergoing a period of rapid social change, and it’s time for good people on all sides to pick up the principles of reconciliation.