Reflections on reconciliation

From 2009-2015, it has been my greatest honour to serve as a Commissioner of the historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The TRC’s huge job has had three key parts: to research, document and record the facts and impacts of over a hundred years of forced residential schooling for Indigenous children; to preserve all that information, and use it to educate the people of Canada about what we have learned; and to ‘inspire reconciliation’, so that the individuals affected, and our country as a whole, could recover from the past and live in respectful relationships with each other going forward. When we first began our work, many of the former residential school students, also known as survivors, asked us about the meaning of reconciliation, and whether it could ever be possible given all the injustice and injury the schools had caused so many thousands of individuals, families, communities and Indigenous nations. We Commissioners agreed early on that reconciliation was about respect, and about establishing or restoring respectful relations. For me, built into that idea of respect, is that reconciliation is also about creating peace…peace in the heart, the home, the community, and in society as a whole. Hearing Canada say it was sorry for the harms caused by the residential schools is not going to be enough to get us to the place of respectful, peaceful relations. So reconciliation also has to mean change…things need to change for the better, especially for the Indigenous peoples of the country. My understanding of Reconciliation has continued to evolve as I listened to survivors share the stories of their difficult and sometimes devastating childhoods in the residential schools; as I heard statements of remorse and regret from other Canadians; and as I heard voices of resilience, wisdom, and great hope from all sides: I think reconciliation is about who we are…We are beginning to face up to the truth of who we have been and what we have done as a country. We cannot undo that, but we can never again deny it either. Because of our actions as a country, thousands of Indigenous children grew up in faraway residential schools, afraid, lonely, ashamed, and angry. They have told us that they learned to hate themselves and didn’t know how to love anyone else either. They grew up not knowing who they were or where they fit in. Reconciliation, then, is about honestly owning up to who we have been. I think reconciliation is also about where we are…We are living in a time and place of slowly but surely healing. So many survivors spoke to us about their ‘healing journey,’ and about the very important role that elders and others have played in helping them heal as they reclaim language, cultural and spiritual identity and a sense of belonging. One of them said, “Once I got my culture back I felt proud again. I felt like I was somebody.” Individuals aren’t the only ones trying to heal. Families are doing that healing work. Some churches are doing that work. A growing number of departments of education, professional associations, municipalities, other faith communities and charitable organizations, and individual Canadians are doing that work. Most recently, and potentially most significantly, our newly elected federal government has also committed to doing that work. But beyond the political promises, our country still has a lot of practical work to do to rebuild trust, and to forge new relationships. Finally, I think reconciliation is about what we are…We are a country at a cross-roads. Thanks to the expanding national dialogue that the Truth …