Will true reconciliation ever happen?

More than a year ago, the unmarked graves of 215 Indigenous children were discovered on the grounds of a former Indian residential school in British Columbia. Other similar discoveries followed. They marked a pivotal moment in history, with many Indigenous communities across the country beginning the lengthy process of identifying unmarked graves on the grounds of former residential schools and investigating the deaths of children who attended those schools. Many Canadians reacted with shock and grief when the news broke. Indeed, one could say the nation grieved collectively and there was a national push for action towards reconciliation. For Indigenous communities—Indigenous women, in particular—the discovery that thousands of our children had been found in unmarked graves at residential school sites has been nothing less than devastating. Our spirits have been crushed. Many survivors of the Indian residential school system had shared memories of deaths and burials in the yards of those same institutions. But without confirmation, their statements had been ignored or dismissed. Last year, the federal government finally declared Sept. 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, six years after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Calls to Action demanded a day of recognition be set aside. Sept. 30 is also Orange Shirt Day, a day to not only remember all those children who never returned home from residential schools, but also a day for standing up and announcing that “Every Child Matters.” The legacy of the residential schools and the genocide that continues to oppress Indigenous women, girls, transgender, and gender-diverse people is linked—interwoven, even. Both groups of survivors have been irreparably harmed by their experiences. Generations of Indigenous Peoples were raised outside of their own families and communities. They missed vital lessons in life passages and parenting—lessons that Elders and Knowledge Keepers offer in their teachings and mentoring. The loss of language and connection to culture has fostered intergenerational trauma. We see that trauma in the drug and alcohol dependency and epidemic rates of gendered violence that afflict Indigenous women and place them at high risk, whether they stay in their homes on reserves or escape to the cities in desperation. In the act of marking historical wrongs, institutions—government, religious, and educational—must make a commitment to protect those who are in harm’s way and to stop patterns of genocide, which are set out in the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). There can be no reconciliation without an end to the genocide that is taking the lives of Indigenous women and girls—and Indigenous men and boys—at levels that are wildly disproportionate to their share of the Canadian population. In 2020 (the most recent year for which crime statistics are available), more than 10 out of every 100,000 Indigenous people were victims of homicide. For non-Indigenous people, the rate was 1.4 in 100,000. As Indigenous women—mothers, daughters, sisters, and aunties—we cannot enjoy the same feelings of safety and security that is afforded to other women in Canada. We cannot know what failures spurred Myles Sanderson to stab 10 people to death in and around the James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan over the Labour Day weekend. We cannot excuse his crimes by laying them at the feet of colonization. Yet, we cannot help but think that the historical horrors inflicted on the Indigenous Peoples of this country had a hand in that tragedy. As I seek ways to move forward from the era of the residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and the disproportionate number of First Nations children who remain in foster care, as I seek ways to end the genocide declared by the MMIWG inquiry, I look to the Seven Grandfather Teachings. These teachings are not just for Indigenous Peoples. They are for everyone. We cannot be violent when we have love and respect for one another and when we act with bravery, truth, honesty, humility, and wisdom. The road to reconciliation relies on enacting the TRC Calls to Action and the National Inquiry’s 231 Calls for Justice. Reconciliation will happen when all Canadians—Indigenous and non-Indigenous—learn to live within the Seven Sacred Teachings; when we stand together to say all lives are valued and all lives must be protected. This will happen when the evils of the past and the memories of those we lost are translated into positive action to save and celebrate those who are still with us. This will happen when the genocide finally comes to an end. Carol McBride was elected to lead the Native Women’s Association of Canada in July 2022. She is an Algonquin leader and Elder from Timiskaming First Nation, as well as an activist and bridge-builder who says Indigenous women are life givers and knowledge transferrers who have the power to change the world. The Hill Times