Conversations about reconciliACTIONS
about it. A point that stood out to me was
the quote, “Biological race is a fallacy that
only indicates how far from the equator
our ancestors were born, while racism is
real and tangible in both historical and
modern systems and structures” [Michael
Cappello, 2018, It’s Still Okay to Be
(Against) White(ness)]. When I read the
points explaining why [we should] talk about
it, I was deeply moved by a point quoted
from a University of Regina Professor. Dr.
Michael Cappello: “Guilt is what you feel for
something you’ve done. Responsibility is
what you take because of the kind of person
you are… it is our responsibility to undo the
generations of work that have created the
unequal outcomes that surround us.”
something to do. A lot of people say good
things about what we are doing. We’ve been
told that they are proud of us because we
are young and we are making an impact on
people.”
TREATY WALK IN THE VILLAGE
My reconciliation includes becoming
familiar with the TRC Calls to Action and to
share them with other people. (Please read
http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/
File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_
English2.pdf)
First-year student Brandy Burns attended
the Treaty Walk in the Village, located at
Orange Tree Village, on the evening of April
5th and wrote the following reflection on her
experience entitled, Respectful Relations:
Another moving display shared the book,
Secret Path, by Gord Downie and Jeff
Lemire. The book is a heartbreaking and
moving story based on the historical
account of one boy’s attempt to escape an
abusive residential school. Sadly he dies
before making it home. The journey of 600
miles was too far in the extreme weather.
This is just one of many lives lost because
of residential schools. The presenters
encouraged people to think about what they
can do by completing the sentence “My
reconciliation includes…”
Treaty Walk in the Village was a rich and
inspiring learning journey. Education
students from the University of Regina
created an interactive environment to
engage people in what they have learned
and are passionate about in regards to
Canada’s less spoken and dark history (and
continuation) of oppression and abuse
of Indigenous people. Not only did the
students bring awareness to this occurrence,
they also shared valuable ways to contribute
towards reconciliation. Every single display
was well presented and meaningful. I will
highlight four of the displays that were
especially meaningful to me.
My first stop in the room was a board
explaining White privilege. The presenter
first explained what White privilege is not.
Some of the examples of what it is not were,
“shaming, blaming, or suggesting White
people are guilty” and “suggesting that all
White people have had it easy or have not
faced challenges.” The fact the presenter felt
he must address this before even talking
about what White privilege is, reminded me
of the term ‘White fragility.’
The card in orange has the TRC Call to
Action #75 printed on it, “We call upon the
federal government to work with provincial,
territorial, and municipal governments,
churches, Aboriginal communities, former
residential school students, and current
landowners to develop and implement
strategies and procedures for the ongoing
identification, documentation, maintenance,
commemoration, and protection of
residential school cemeteries or other sites
at which residential school children were
buried. This is to include the provision of
appropriate memorial ceremonies and
commemorative markers to honour the
deceased children.”
The presenters showed pictures of the
industrial school before it was destroyed by
a fire. They shared their own experience of
trying to find the cemetery. There was no
signage indicating where it was, what it was,
or who was buried there. The only marker
was one for the first headmaster of the
school. The cemetery was surrounded by a
painted white fence and nothing else. I agree
this falls very short of honouring the Call to
Action.
The last display I want to talk about was
titled, “Walking with our Sisters.” Walking
with our Sisters is a commemorative art
instillation for the missing and murdered
Indigenous women of Canada and the USA
(http://walkingwithoursisters.ca). The tops of
moccasins are beaded and then
intentionally not sewn into moccasins. They
represent the unfinished lives of murdered
and missing Indigenous women. The
presenters shared there is an ongoing
investigation by the government about the
common occurrence of Indigenous women
being murdered and going missing but
there does not seem to be a lot of findings
on this matter. They shared the hashtags
#wecare and #MMIWG to show these
women are not forgotten and something
must be done to end this violence.
The display then moves into defining what
White privilege is and why we should learn
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