The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) produced a report card in 2020 on the progress in achieving the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action.
https://www.afn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020_TRC-Report-Card_ENG.pdf
The efforts for reconciliation go back at least 30 years to the Apology to the First Nations of Canada from the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
This apology can be viewed on the web page Indian Residential Schools and TRC - Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops1.
In its final report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) instructed governments, educational and religious institutions, civil society groups and all Canadians to take on the 94 Calls to Action (CTA).
As per Resolution 01/2015, Support for the Full Implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, Chiefs-in-Assembly call on Federal, Provincial, Territorial and Municipal Governments to take immediate steps to fully implement all the Calls to Action.2
CBC News posted on Oct 09, 2015, images from the 2015 party platforms. The portion of the Liberal party platform on relationships with Indigenous people is worth examining.3
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-party-platforms-1.3264887
"The BC Teachers’ Federation calls for decisive action from the federal government with the declaration that there is “no reconciliation without truth”. Specifically, the BCTF is calling for the Government of Canada to:
declare a national period of mourning following last week’s discovery at Kamloops Indian Residential School.
commit to working with all Indigenous communities throughout Canada wishing to conduct ground radar surveys of former Indian Residential Schools within their territories.
provide adequate funding and resources to make possible the work of identifying additional unmarked grave sites and conducting the cultural protocols appropriate within each respective community.
provide a detailed report to Canadians on the status of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action numbers 71–76 (“Missing Children and Burial Information”).
They have linked to a summary of Church Apologies.
In the 1960s many Canadian churches began to rethink their relationship with Aboriginal people. The Catholic, Anglican and United Churches formed Project North (the Aboriginal Rights Coalition) in 1975 to co-ordinate their efforts in support of Aboriginal campaigns for justice. They were later joined by the Presbyterian Church and other denominations. Starting in 1986, Canadian churches began to issue apologies for attempting to impose European culture and values on Aboriginal people. In 1991, the Roman Catholic Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate apologized “for the part we played in the cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious imperialism that was part of the mentality with which the peoples of Europe first met the Aboriginal peoples.” The 1993 Anglican Church of Canada apologized to Aboriginal people for trying “to remake you in our image, taking from you your language and the signs of your identity.” In its 1994 apology, the Presbyterian Church in Canada acknowledged “that the roots of the harm we have done are found in the attitudes and values of western European colonialism, and the assumption that what was not yet molded in our image was to be discovered and Exploited.” In 1998, the United Church of Canada issued an apology “for the pain and suffering that our church’s involvement in the Indian Residential School system has caused. We are aware of some of the damage that this cruel and ill-conceived system of assimilation has perpetrated on Canada’s First Nations peoples.”4
We review the progress on reconciliation to create a strategy for change based on promises fulfilled and forgotten by responsible bodies in Canada.
References
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