What Reconciliation Means to Us

For Indigenous World, truth and reconciliation is an ongoing challenge that must be held dear to the government and every Canadian. For us truth comes before reconciliation because we can only tackle the topics we know about. There are many aspects of struggles brought on by settler colonialism that we still have not pinpointed so it is the duty of the public and governing bodies to search history and the present to find challenges brought on by settler colonialism.

While we wish we could truly resolve these situations and travesties some of these scars will never heal so all we can do is reconcile our past with a brighter future. Reconciliation is important because it shows an effort by the people of Canada to do right by their Indigenous brothers and sisters. Steps the government can take for reconciliation is to find the truth, and give what reparations; no amount can be right but it’s about setting Indigenous peoples up for success and giving indigenous peoples more agency over their land and giving them the best opportunity to succeed in the modern world.

This first comes with educating the population on past and current events, this education will be ongoing and change as time goes on. The first thing any individual can do is educate themselves to the fullest extent, and share this information with others. By being an ally we can grow indigenous perspectives in the forefront of institutions’ minds when tackling issues. Sometimes it can be hard to put aside your own day to day struggles and try to learn about something so distressing such as Canada’s history with Indigenous people, but as one learns of some of the atrocities in the past individuals may find it harder and harder to push aside these powerful narratives.

Here at Indigenous World we are proud to be Canadian, but learning about this does give a certain clarity on what our country is and how it got to where it is. The past may make the future look bleak, but the first step is understanding this past and reconciling with it to the best of our abilities. There is no one thing we can do to truly fix this, but we can take it in stride and attempt to do the best we can to put Indigenous peoples in the best place moving forward.