How to walk the path of reconciliation

We can start by properly educating new citizens, writes Alfredo Barahona.

I will never forget the day 29 years ago when I became a Canadian citizen. I can still recall the questions I was asked. Who was the first prime minister of Canada? What is the Queen’s first name? Who represents her in Canada? What are Canada’s major political parties and their respective leaders? Name all the provinces and territories.

What are the three Aboriginal groups recognized in Canada’s Constitution? I’d like to say that I could’ve answered that question, but I was not given the opportunity to learn about it, or asked.

On July 1, hundreds of new citizens swore their allegiance to this country and promised to faithfully observe its laws. Unlike me, they received a very brief overview of the history of Indigenous Peoples. Like me, they did not promise to faithfully honour the treaties with Indigenous Peoples.

We’re not alone. Very few Canadians fully learn this history or know about the hundreds of treaties signed with the First Peoples since before Confederation and to which all of us are bound. For most immigrants and those born in Canada, it’s as if this history and these covenants do not exist. This is one outcome of 150 years of statesanctioned marginalization and forced assimilation.

As we mark the 150th anniversary of Confederation, it appears that Canada’s face still looks non-Indigenous. I am reminded of this whenever a visitor from another country tells me they didn’t realize there are Indigenous people living here.

It’s not that I don’t want to celebrate Canada 150. My adopted home was a safe and welcoming haven for me and my family after we escaped — under threat of death — our native El Salvador. But I can’t ignore the fact that not everyone is celebrating and that some are focusing on the debilitating and ongoing impacts of colonization, and demanding a new way forward.

That way forward is articulated in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) 94 “Calls to Action,” released in 2015. The final two, Calls 93 and 94, concern new Canadians. Number 93 calls on the Canadian government to collaborate with Indigenous organizations to revise the citizenship test’s information kit “to reflect a more inclusive history of the diverse Aboriginal peoples of Canada,” including details about the treaties and the history of residential schools. Call 94 concerns changing the Oath of Citizenship to include the “Treaties with Indigenous peoples.”

This past July 1 offered an opportune moment for the government of Canada to fully implement these final two calls, especially given that early this year it publicly committed to doing so.

The government did name Aboriginal peoples as one of Canada’s three founding peoples in the citizenship test’s information kit. But the insertion of just three pages devoted to their history and significant contributions to our country is not nearly enough.

Educating newcomers to Canada may seem like a symbolic gesture, but it’s essential to stem the tide of racism against Indigenous Peoples that is still too prevalent. All of us — whether we arrived yesterday or our ancestors settled hundreds of years ago — have a critical role to play in reconciliation. All of us are called upon to participate.

Since becoming a Canadian, I have learned the history that Canadians are seldom taught and I have worked with Indigenous people and communities to educate myself and others, including diaspora communities and migrant workers. I have learned that Indigenous Peoples are part of Canada’s DNA. To not know this history is to not know ourselves. Not truly.

I know from experience that education is key to reconciliation. Provincial governments must fully adopt the TRC Call 62.i to ensure that all students from kindergarten to grade 12 learn about this history — both painful and positive.

The federal government must fully implement Calls 93 and 94. Doing so this year is still possible and would be ideal. It will send an important message that Canada is turning a corner, recognizing its painful past while taking key steps toward reconciliation, an achievement worth celebrating in the years ahead.