Making it Count – What National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Means to Us

Image source: University of Waterloo

Image source: University of Waterloo

Written by Zain Nayani

  • To learn more about the origins of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

  • To reaffirm our support for the cause and Indigenous peoples

  • To share how we will contribute our time and knowledge in advancement of the cause

What is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation?

Today, September 30, 2021, marks the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.  The day pays tribute to the children who went to residential schools, their families, and communities.  It is a day to honour those children who were lost and those who survived the trauma that residential schools inflicted.  Today is a day to commemorate the tragic history and ongoing impact of residential schools, as part of the broader Canadian reconciliation process.  Today also marks the eighth anniversary of the Orange Shirt Day - an Indigenous-led grassroots movement that honours the children who survived residential schools and remembers those who did not.  Today, we wear orange!

What are the origins of today?

 The land that we now call Canada has been inhabited by its Indigenous peoples since time immemorial.  They survived long before European contact by forming complex social, political, economic, and cultural system.  While the Vikings were the first Europeans to reach Canada’s East Coast, it was not until the late 15th century when the process of formal colonization really began with support from different European monarchies at the time[1]. To legitimize this process for themselves and their subjects, European monarchs used the Doctrine of Discovery which promoted the idea that if any land was vacant or empty, as per European interpretations, they could claim it as theirs.  By using this argument as a foundation, the process of colonization commenced and changed the lives of Indigenous peoples of this land forever.

As more European colonizers and settlers arrived on this land, they began seeing Indigenous peoples as lesser beings and a roadblock to creating a Euro-centric civilization.  To overcome this, the colonizers established new laws and policies that put them on top of the hierarchy and extended their domination over Indigenous people. Discriminatory practices such as the Indian Act, pass system, reserve lands and residential schools were established to control all aspects of Indigenous life, just so there was less interference with the lives of settlers.  Such practices have had devastating consequences on the well-being of generations of Indigenous peoples.  Today is a day to commemorate the recipients of the negative impact from one of the many discriminatory practices – the residential schools.

The first residential school opened its doors in Ontario in 1831, while the last one closed only 23 years ago in 1998[2].  During these 167 years, a total of 140 federally sponsored and church operated residential schools were established.  The purpose of these schools can be narrowed to a single powerful word – ‘assimilation’.  It is estimated that over 150,000 Indigenous children attended these schools and anywhere between 4,000 to 6,000 children died at these discriminatory camps.  I say discriminatory camps because they were designed to strip the children of Indigenous cultures.  These camps isolated young children from their families and communities.  They were not allowed to speak their languages, wear traditional clothes or pursue spiritual practices.  Overall, the impact of residential schools was so negative that the consequences of it can still be seen to the present day.  The sad part about the Canadian reality is that these consequences for the most part were seriously ignored by the general public up until the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established in 2008.

By documenting the truth of Survivors, their families, communities and anyone personally affected by the residential school experience, the TRC’s mandate was to inform all Canadians about what happened in residential schools[3].  After conducting extensive research and listening to more than 6,500 witnesses between 2008 and 2015, the TRC released a 6-volume final report, including 94 Calls to Action[4], to advance the reconciliation between Canadians and Indigenous peoples.  The recommendations made by TRC cover a variety of topics and many Calls to Action are still a work in progress.  One of the recommendations of the TRC was to establish, as a statutory holiday, a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to honour Survivors, their families, and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and impact of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.  Six years later, it seems as though we can finally say that the status of this recommendation is now ‘complete’. 

However, I question if that is simply enough. What about the rest of the Calls to Action?  What about the pace of our action or inaction?  What about the fact that many Canadians, still to this day, are not aware or want to be aware of the truth?  How is reconciliation even possible without this awareness and acceptance of reality?

What else is required to achieve meaningful reconciliation?

Establishing September 30th as Federal statutory holiday to commemorate the residential school’s traumatic history and feed it to further the reconciliation process is a great gesture. But this day could just become another ‘holiday’ for Canadians to enjoy their time at waterfront properties.  Will people actually go through each of the 94 Calls to Action and take some time in their personal and professional lives to advance the causes that they can relate to?   Today provides a unique opportunity for all of us to learn and educate ourselves about Indigenous peoples.  Simple acts like acknowledging the land we live on and its true title-holders and our status as settlers can go a long way.  Fixing all Calls to Action on our own, as individuals, is not practical but we can play a role by learning about the dark side of Canadian history and become accomplices to Indigenous peoples.

Here are some simple things we can all do to advance the cause that we are celebrating today:

·       Read books about the history of colonization and its adverse impacts

·       Contribute our time, knowledge and other resources at Indigenous organizations

·       Support Indigenous artists, causes and cultural events

·       Watch films and documentaries to learn more about Indigenous peoples

·       Learn Indigenous languages and participate in tradition activities

·       Explore Indigenous-led tourism opportunities

There are probably more things we can all do to further the reconciliation process, but this should not be an overwhelming task.  If it is then let’s act and work on it together as groups, families, and communities. Our actions and inaction have a direct impact on the Indigenous peoples who survived the painful Canadian history, their families and communities.  It is our duty and obligation to pay respect to the first peoples of this land.

What are we doing to support meaningful reconciliation at ZN?

We were established in 2013 after realizing the work that needed to be done in the Indigenous realm.  As immigrants and settlers on this land, we had a very limited knowledge about Indigenous peoples and what they have been through.  Our curiosity somehow led us to them, and we started learning with and from them.  They reaffirmed our own cultural values such as inter-connectedness of everything and how our time, knowledge, skills and other material resources can be shared to improve the quality of life of the communities we live and breathe in.  We fell in love with their teachings. By learning about the negative experiences of Indigenous peoples with the mainstream Canadian society and immersing ourselves in this space, we got more involved in the pursuit of meaningful solutions.  Today, we continue to serve Indigenous communities by filling the gap in organizational resilience and stability through governance, strategy and planning, management, and capacity building services.

 

The foundation of our company is based upon TRC’s Call to Action 92, which says:

 

“We call upon the corporate sector in Canada to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a reconciliation framework and to apply its principles, norms, and standards to corporate policy and core operational activities involving Indigenous peoples and their lands and resources. This would include, but not be limited to, the following:

 

·       Commit to meaningful consultation, building respectful relationships, and obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples before proceeding with economic development projects.

·       Ensure that Aboriginal peoples have equitable access to jobs, training, and education opportunities in the corporate sector, and that Aboriginal communities gain long-term sustainable benefits from economic development projects.

·       Provide education for management and staff on the history of Aboriginal peoples, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal-Crown relations. This will require skills based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.

 

We are not perfect in any way or shape when it comes to reconciliation. However, one thing we know is that what we are doing is advancing this particular recommendation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  Over the years, we have built meaningful relationships with Indigenous peoples and have become an accomplice in many situations.  We look out for Indigenous people, particularly youth, when making new hires for our practice.  We work with Indigenous youth, as project champions, in as many engagements as possible to help advance their understanding of the issues within a project and their professional capacity.  Lastly, we expose our team members to different forms of learning.  On a weekly basis we ask ourselves if we learned anything new about the space we operate in.  We meaningfully participate in webinar and trainings led by Indigenous organizations and we converse and interact with our Indigenous clients because that is where we get to learn the most.

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Our work does not stop here. How does one reverse hundreds of years of superiority and selfishness that existed in Canada and were perpetuated by the colonizer and settler?  September 30th, 2021, to us, is only the beginning.  As a social-purpose enterprise we are committed to being a trusted partner to Indigenous people, organizations, and communities to achieve their resilience and constantly improve ourselves while becoming a distinct and reliable professional practice.

Zain NayaniComment