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Genuine reconciliation and redress is in our hands. We can't wait for governments or corporations or big NGOs to promote real change.
Please provide us with feedback as we promote different models of people working across cultures together. We are university researchers, community artists, and redress activists who believe the status quo work of government and Reconciliation Canada inadequate to address the genocide that has taken place. Let's be honest. We are witnessing millions of dollars spent on reconciliation celebrations, with Indigenous People doing the most work, and the majority of settler society not involved. When it comes to truth and reconciliation, there is no trickle-up theory. It is either happening to the core of society or it is window-dressing. It takes real change to move forward with justice and equality, and we have not been seeing it rollout in Canada. A better model is place-based reconciliation that is grounded in accountable communities. Top-down reconciliation does not work, it must be by and for the people because it challenges the foundation and fibres of our society. We suggest it needs to be place-based, and involve all neighbourhood and community infrastructure in a region showing up. We need to build honest new relationships that include plans for land redress. There are also better models in the world to follow like South Africa and Colombia where real truth and real consequences occur. Structures that profited from apartheid were forced to be accountable. This Canadian version of reconciliation was created by the Harper Conservatives and the AFN. Simply put, Canada is deliberate in making a 'show' without changing its habits. Reconciliation without the land question being resolved is not progress. Corporations piling on and cashing in with social washing is not helping. There are genuine redress steps we can take as members of the communities where we live here. Please consider working in your communities on small projects that make permanent changes with the Coast Salish people around you. Tell us about this work so others can learn and be inspired. Walking for reconciliation is a start, but then what? Coast Salish People never ceded their lands and waters, let's start acting like we get it. Let's work for redress. |
Please share your thoughts and name of your community.
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