Jody Wilson-Raybould - True Reconciliation: How to Be a Force for Change

In 2021, I received a letter that said: Myself, and others like meneed guidance on how to help with the ongoing reconciliation that is needed in not only my area, but the rest of Canada.

It was a letter like so many others I have received over the years, where individuals are asking, in their own words, What can I do to help advance reconciliation?

This question is asked when people feel responsibility for the past, and the need to be a part of effecting real change into the future:

It is hard for me to know what to do so that I can move repentance and reconciliation ahead. (That may be whypeople have looked to the government to do something.) [S]ince it will probably take the government awhile to respond, I want you to know that my family and I are hearing [the] stories and are so sad and sorry for what [Indigenous] people have experienced [and] please let your families and relatives know that we do care and we want to make it better and we grieve with you for all that you lost.

It is asked by new Canadians as they become aware of the past and present reality of Indigenous Peoples and want to be a part of breaking patterns of harm:

I am just a first-generation immigrant and dont consider myself qualified to make any kind of comments/assertions on any aspect of our First Nations relationship with the Crown. I also realize that in a grand scheme of things my opinion or thoughts dont matter at all. However, I can very proudly claim that I dont subscribe to any of the (ignorant) stereotypes associated with our First Nations. I wish there were a way for immigrants (new Canadians) and our First Nations to connect and share experiences of colonialism, the damage it caused to the social fabric of the colonised societies and the healing brought forth by decolonization. I am saying this because most of the immigrants come from countries which were formerly colonized. I strongly believe that any kind of understanding and partnership between New Canadians and our First Nations would be extremely beneficial for bothbut am not sure how that would be possible.

It is asked when people know they have a role to play and are ready to act, but dont know what action to take.

I would like to be part of that [work of reconciliation] however small. I will do whatever I can, I have emailed my MP on many occasions but have never gotten a reply

I have been asked this questionin one form or anothermore than any other. In the boardroom. On the street. At family meals. In Indigenous communities. Around the Cabinet table. More than once, I have even been stopped while going into a restroom by engaged individuals wanting to discuss the challenges of reconciliation, how it relates to the state of politics and governance in this country, and how to get involved.

And I am asked this questionin one version or another, and by Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoplemore and more these days. It inspires and motivates me that you are asking what you can do to help advance reconciliation, that you are seeking answers. It is the right question. And when we ask the right questions, we can find ways to move forward.

Lets be honest: throughout most of the history of Canada, Indigenous Peoples have experienced the opposite of being asked that question. The more common experience has been for Indigenous Peoples to be told things, treated like we needed to be saved from ourselves because we, and our ways of life, were inferior. Our lives were placed under the control of government, and we were placed in isolated and often hidden placesthe reserve down the poorly paved or gravel road, the houses on the other side of the tracks, the residential school in the field.

My grandmother, whose English name was Ethel Pearson and whose Kwakwakawakw name was Pugladee, had to struggle for change in the shadows, out of sight and invisible, to ensure our culture and our ways survived. To keep our traditions of the Big House aliveour governance systemshe and others had to hide their gatherings and the work they were doing from agents of the federal government, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), who had direction to stop those gatherings and that work. Our people had a system of lookouts that would let them know when the officials were close, so they could switch from the work they were doing to singing church hymns.