Rage or reconciliation: Youth are key to future
Canadian Roots Exchange aiming for some answers at November conference
An event bringing young people together to discuss their vision for the future of reconciliation is an important step toward mending Canada’s relationship with its Indigenous people, says Max FineDay, executive director of the Canadian Roots Exchange (CRE).
“When Canadians are polled, it’s young people that are the most optimistic that reconciliation can be achieved in their lifetime,” he said, noting that each generation has a different idea of what reconciliation should look like.
As millennials start to shape the path forward, there has been heavier focus on building a national network of passionate people who are willing to learn from each other and help adapt solutions that have previously been successful in other communities across the country, FineDay said.
The CRE is a national youth charity aimed at repairing the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth across Canada by promoting dialogue and offering leadership programs, exchanges, and national youth gatherings.
FineDay said Canada, especially Saskatchewan, is currently at an important crossroads in the reconciliation process, and the chosen path will either move Canadians forward or keep staunch colonialist attitudes strong.
“We can go down the road of rage, that is felt on both sides — whether it’s rage at colonization or rage at Indigenous people — or we can go down the path of reconciliation, and that is a path not yet charted,” he said.
The CRE will host its National Youth Gathering in November at the University of Saskatchewan, bringing together Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth from across the country to discuss their experiences and share how they believe reconciliation efforts should continue.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” he said. “I’m hopeful that this gathering shows young people, this province and this country that this generation is serious about this work. We are going to be the generation that pushes reconciliation much further than any other generation and that will be our legacy as young people — that we started to take this seriously as a country.”
FineDay especially is hoping the conference — which takes place between Nov. 15 and 17 and offers youth-led workshops and keynotes to educate and empower discussion — will draw youth who live in rural areas to share what they believe the idea of rural reconciliation looks like in the wake of Colten Boushie’s death and the acquittal of Gerald Stanley more than a year later.
Nearly half of Indigenous people live in rural communities, but most reconciliation events happen in large cities.
Because of this, FineDay says, important voices are being left out of the discussion.
Young people who want to participate in the gathering to learn more about the future of reconciliation can register before Oct. 15 through the CRE website, canadianroots.ca.
“You don’t have to be a professional or an expert; you come with your experience, and that’s so valuable to us,” FineDay said.
“That’s such a big part of this work, sitting and listening to these stories to create a common thread so we can do so much better for the future.”