Systemic reconciliation requires understanding promises of the past and needs of the present

On National Indigenous Peoples Day, as Canada celebrates the heritage, contributions, and diversity of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities, people are asking if progress is being made toward reconciliation. The short answer is that good and genuine efforts are taking place. The longer answer is that systemic reconciliation requires all Canadians to understand the promises of the past, knowledgeably respond to the needs of the present, and collaboratively pursue our shared interests for the future. First, an understanding of the spirit and intent of our original relationships—our shared history—is required. At the time of treaty-making, Elders told the “Queen’s Councillors,” the treaty commissioners, that the treaties were covenants between First Nations, the newcomers, and the creator. The treaty relationship was to be an ongoing and living agreement, to be reviewed over time and improved, by consent, for mutual benefit of the parties. Instead, Indigenous people and communities experienced profound disadvantage, racism, and oppression. These facts are well-documented by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and decades earlier, by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Each of these (and numerous other) reports affirm and acknowledge that meaningful reconciliation requires an understanding of rights. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizes the nexus of treaty rights, Indigenous rights, and our shared human rights work together to contribute to the health and well-being of all communities. Second, reconciliation with the past, and for the future, requires an acknowledgment of the significant strides that have been made through community investment, self-governance processes, and business. The Métis-led Camponi Housing Corporation, in partnership with the governments of Canada and of Saskatchewan, broke ground this May for a community housing complex that will support more than 150 families. Camponi’s mission is to provide “healthy homes supporting strong communities.” Whitecap Dakota First Nation recently signed their self-government treaty with Canada. This treaty confirms jurisdiction, on their reserve lands, over governance, natural resources, membership, financial management and accountability, health, language and culture promotion and preservation, and education. Affirming their Section 35 constitutional rights as Aboriginal Peoples signifies a historic shift in Canada’s position on the Dakota and enables ongoing reconciliation. David Arnot is a member of the Independent Senators Group, who also became chief commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission in 2009. Photograph courtesy of Sen. David Arnot Third, reconciliation requires forward-looking education. Indeed, reference to “education” appears 28 times in the Calls to Action put forward by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015. Many of those calls are directed toward federal and provincial governments to fund education that informs and educates elementary, secondary, and post-secondary students. These calls have, and are, being answered. The use of first-in-Canada treaty education resources for K-12 students in Saskatchewan explores Indigenous knowledge, worldviews, ways of knowing, and culture. The University of Saskatchewan is also leading the way for post-secondary campuses with its Indigenous strategy created solely by Indigenous people, including Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and staff. Finally, we need to reflect on the future of reconciliation. Indigenous youth leaders recently told the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples about the issues motivating them to act. They spoke about children in Nunavut who are going to school hungry because of the high cost of food, D/deaf and hard of hearing youth struggling with isolation, and the importance of land-based education and language reclamation. Chante Speidel from the Sapotaweyak Cree Nation and the Standing Rock Sioux tribe stated: “I know that it’s a possibility for Indigenous youth to connect to their language and culture. By doing so, we are all leaders and trailblazers in this room, not leaders of tomorrow or the day after that, but leaders right now. We are doing the work on the ground right now.” First Nations, Métis, and Inuit leaders and youth have high expectations for their communities and for themselves. They are not waiting for systemic reconciliation to act, as they continue to take their rightful place with the Canadian state. It is in everyone’s best interest, and a fundamental responsibility of our citizenship, to join them through meaningful acts of reconciliation. David Arnot is a member of the Independent Senators Group, who also became chief commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission in 2009. He previously worked as the federal Treaty Commissioner for the Province of Saskatchewan, a provincial court judge, a Crown prosecutor, and as director general of Aboriginal Justice in the Department of Justice Canada. The Hill Times