Author talks about robust reconciliation

The Sun’s book club chatted with Wab Kinew about his new book, The Reason You Walk. It’s the story of Kinew and his father, a residential school survivor who died from cancer a few years ago.

Melanie Jackson: Congratulations on a compelling, powerful book. We were all fascinated by the sun dance. I was moved to read that the Catholic archbishop of Winnipeg participated in this redemptive, cleansing but obviously painful ceremony. I was wondering if his participation, as well as showing solidarity and respect, was a gesture of penance for the abuse of the kids in residential schools.

Wab Kinew: I write about it fairly in depth in the book. I was asked a lot about what his motivations for attending the sun dance were. I’m not sure that examining his motivations are the right thing to do. He is a spiritual man and he was there in one of our most sacred spiritual ceremonies. I take his participation as just that — a desire to pray with us, learn about us and show that he is a serious partner in this journey of reconciliation.

To me the more interesting question than what his thoughts were motivating his participation in the sun dance, is whether or not there is anyone else in the Catholic Church who is willing to follow in his footsteps and come sun dance with us.

Julia Denholm: Your book comes at a time of great hope for implementation of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations. Can you talk a bit about what you see in the future for First Nations people in Canada?

Wab Kinew: The sky is the limit really. We have an indigenous justice minister, indigenous billionaires, an indigenous MVP in the NHL. In the next 20 years I think we’ll see an indigenous prime minister (possibly the same person as our new justice minister), we’ll see an indigenous superstar in the entertainment world and an indigenous tech leader. But the real way we should judge our progress as a society is not by how high the achievers in our society ascend, but how much life is improved for the most marginalized in our society. And by that measure I think the future is a lot more challenging. I think it will take a lot of patience, resources and political will to combat multifaceted, generational challenges like child welfare and poverty.

Ian Weir: Congrats on a really powerful book. And (with apologies for going straight to politics): there’s currently a lot of optimism that Canada is at long last moving toward a genuine transformation of the relationship among its Nations. Do you share that optimism?

Wab Kinew: I would say I am an optimistic realist. I think the new federal government is going to improve the relationship a ton.

But let’s be honest, if they do achieve everything they say they will: equal funding for First Nations kids’ educations; justice for murdered and missing women; clean water for everyone in the country; a respectful relationship with all indigenous groups ... they will really only be doing the bare minimum of what the Canadian government should have always been doing. The bigger challenges such as: justice for indigenous lands; portability of treaty and aboriginal rights; the proper recognition of indigenous languages and cultures in this country; and the potential reordering of the constitution to properly incorporate indigenous governments, will still be outstanding. So this new government can do a lot of good, and I hope they can keep up their momentum in the face of fiscal pressures, but it will take decades of sustained progress to really achieve reconciliation in a robust and meaningful way.