Learning and growing
Confronting Canada’s continued discrimination against Indigenous Peoples
July is here and with it comes not only sunshine, but also an opportunity for reflection and change.
There have been discussions about Canada Day and whether it’s inclusive and reflective, but this year those discussions seem even more pressing, with the horrific discoveries of unmarked
children’s graves at former residential school sites in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. And searching is now happening at other locations, too.
Canada’s history did not begin in 1867. The Indigenous Peoples
of this land have been here for thousands of years, tending to it, learning the ways of the forests and creatures and living in harmony with both.
The first step in breaking down Canada Day is first acknowledging that we in Halifax are in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq. This territory is covered by the Treaties of Peace
and Friendship, which Mi’kmaq and Maliseet Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1725, and this place existed long
before the Canadian government became official.
What can we do to support our friends in the Indigenous communities?
First, to quote Chris Googoo of Ulnooweg, our Board member, “Improve our ignorance of Canada’s history and our realities; my children live with this knowledge, so should yours.”
I urge you to read more about the history of residential schools and broken treaties over the last few hundred years. You can listen to the CBC podcast episode, The Loop: A Reckoning on Residential Schools, or the Residential Schools podcast series created
by Historica Canada.
BOOKS TO READ:
• A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential
Schools from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada with foreword by Phil Fontaine
• Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada by Paulette Regan
• Reconciliation & The Way Forward by Shelagh Rogers, Mike Degagné, Glen Lowry and Sara Fryer
• 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph
Before we can mend our relationships and reconcile with our pasts, we need to know what has happened. To better understand each other, we need to recognize what Indigenous Peoples lived
through and continue to live with today. We need to unlearn biases and start to dispel myths some of us have lived with our entire lives.
We are leaders in our community and need to set the example. Support Indigenous-owned businesses: Include them in your supply chain, give them a platform and share their content. Engage with organizations like Ulnooweg, Nova Scotia Indigenous Tourism Enterprise Network and the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre. Hire Indigenous workers.
We need to actively reflect on our experiences living in Canada and how they might differ from
Indigenous Peoples’.