.png)
This is a story of Reconciliation through my lens as a Coast Salish matriarch. Where in
my lifetime, I am the daughter of a hereditary Chief, who became the first female
hereditary Chief in my family and comes from a line of hereditary Chiefs on my mother’s
side of the family. I am the first generation in my immediate family to not attend
residential or day school and to go to Post-Secondary School without enfranchisement.
Where the choice was mine to where I went to school and learn what I wanted, without
interference from outside forces, i.e. state or church. I wasn’t forced to move to my
husband’s Nation when I married him or lost my status under the Indian Act if I moved
off reserve, voted, served my country, received a formal education, etc. And I still
maintain my status as a legal ‘Indian’ under the Indian Act and seen as a citizen of this
country known as Canada at the same time and considered a human that is civilized
with rights like every other Canadian. I share this because this was not always the case
for my ancestors. But I am forced to choose only one of my Nation’s to be a member of
under the Indian Act and carry a status number to hold legal rights as an Indian under
said act. We still face racism, oppression, discrimination, bias, and are othered because
our history laid the foundation for this to be our truth.
The TRUTH in Canada’s History with First Nations Peoples
Systematic enfranchisement of the First Peoples of this country is our lived experience
and it is still on-going through the oppressive nature of colonization, capitalism and the
Indian Act. Tools used throughout our history to assimilate my Peoples include:
Doctrine of Discovery and Terra Nelius
Ruperts Land purchase
The Royal Proclamation of 1763
The Gradual Civilization Act of 1857
The Act for the Protection of Indians (1850)
The Act for the Protection of Indians (1850s)
The Indian Act of 1876
Residential Schools become official Policy in 1879
Potlach (Ceremonial) Ban becomes law from 1887-1951 (67 years it is illegal for
us to have ceremony of any kind) as well as a ban on any regalia to be worn
Land grabs become official policy from 1911-1951
The on-going oppression of the Indian Act:
1927–1951 - Status Indians barred from seeking legal advice, fundraising,
or meeting in groups
1951 - Political organizing and cultural activities legalized
- women were still not allowed to vote in Band elections
1960 - First Nations People allowed to vote
1961 – Compulsory enfranchisement was removed
1969 - The first Trudeau government announces its intentions to entirely
eliminate the Indian Act with the White Paper. This draws great ire from
Indigenous communities and the government abandons the idea.
1985 - First Nations women no longer forced to give up their “status”
INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA & LEGACY ISSUES
• Disease killed a majority of population over the centuries
• The myth that our land was “nobody’s land”, ignoring our inherent right to live of it
• Competing priorities and worldview, which created divide over many things
• Not seeing Indigenous People as ‘human’
• Destruction of family, relationship to the land, language, culture, identity, purpose
• Degradation of women, their roles, responsibilities and authority
• Stolen Land
• Self-Determination, Self-Government, and Self-Reliance replaced by dependant
and oppressive government tactics for assimilation
• Diet changes dramatically bringing about extensive health issues for Indigenous
Peoples
• Intergenerational trauma from being displaced, abused, viewed less than, or
genocidal actions
• Being forced to choose to be in either world or have extensive pressure from
trying to be in both
Children in care
• In 2021, 53.8% of children in foster care in Canada were Indigenous, while
Indigenous children made up only 7.7% of the child population under 15
Missing and Murdered Women
• Estimates suggest that around 4,000 Indigenous women and girls and 600
Indigenous men and boys have gone missing or been murdered between 1956
and 2016.
Prison and Justice system
• Overrepresentation in all systems (32% federally, 42+% provincially and 50%
youth in the system)
• Alcohol and Drug abuse
• Due to the lack of funding, support, education and early interventions for trauma,
grief, loss, and on-going issues, Indigenous peoples use many things as coping
mechanisms
Suicide crisis
• Indigenous peoples are three times more likely to commit suicide for so many
reasons
RECONAILATION is a restructuring and transformation of relationships between Indigenous and settler Canadians communities, organizations, and institutions.
SETTING THE INTENTION OF RECONCILIATION ACKNOWLEDGING the past
UNDERSTANDING the present realities TRANFORMING the future Reconciliation has to be done TOGETHER
Reconciliation is:
Critical and Complex
Multifaceted and Continuous
A process about working towards solidarity as a society and country
The responsibility of every settler Canadian as healing is the key to Reconciliation
Includes honoring treaties
Acknowledging and respecting Indigenous rights and title
Acknowledging and letting go of negative perceptions, stereotypes, racism and
biases
Acknowledging the past and ensuring that history never repeats
Learning about Indigenous history
o Recognizing the inter-generational impacts of colonization, attempts at
assimilation, and cultural genocide
o Recognizing the critical roles, Indigenous Peoples have held in the creation of
Canada, their contributions to world wars to protect Canada
Taking responsibility as a person, a parent, an employee, an employer to:
o Never utter, accept, or ignore a racist comment
o Never utter, accept, or ignore a statement that includes a stereotype about
Indigenous Peoples
Respect for:
o Indigenous individuals
o Indigenous beliefs, cultures, traditions, worldviews, challenges, and goals
Recognition & support of the deep connections Indigenous Peoples have to the land
Supporting the reclamation of identity, language, culture, and nationhood
Good people doing good things through building relationships with Indigenous
Peoples
Never giving up despite setbacks
Humility, Integrity, Honesty, Uncomfortable and creating opportunity to transform
A commitment to taking a role and assuming responsibility in working towards a
better future for every Canadian
Reconciliation is not:
A trend nor a single gesture, action, or statement
A box to be ticked
About blame nor guilt
About the loss of rights for non-Indigenous Canadians
Someone else’s responsibility
Reconciliation Matters – The Path has been laid
• Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1986)
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the 94 Calls to Action
• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
• MMIWG Reclaiming Power and Place Report and 231 Calls to Justice
• UNDRIPA (Cnd Federal) and DRIPA (Prov. BC)
• National Indigenous Economic Development Strategy & 107 Calls to Economic
Prosperity
• National Indigenous History Month, National Indigenous Day and the Day for
Truth & Reconciliation in Canada
“We have described for you a mountain. We have shown you the path to the top. We call upon you to do the climbing."
The late honuorable Murray Sinclair
Lawyer, Judge, Former Senator
Manitoban