Reflections on National Day of Truth and Reconciliation

By: Alemu N., IAT Member, Vancouver Local Immigration Partnership

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation specifically commemorates the tragic legacy of residential schools in Canada. As a reminder, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend the schools from the 17th century up until the last closure of the school in 1996.

At the time, the world was ruled by a colonial mindset, and the main goal of the school was to erase the identities, language, and cultures of Indigenous peoples and replace them with European identities. Since the schools were operated by an established church and supported by the state, it is not easy to know how many children were killed, or to fully understand the scope of the multifaceted abuses faced by Indigenous people by the Canadian government in the process of forced acculturation.

We only know justice has been delayed and denied.

However, the ugliest legacies of colonization and imperialism are not unique to Canada. The residential school is a tiny part of the horrendous colonialism and imperialism legacy across the globe.

Only a few of the widespread atrocities committed across the globe by governments against their people are ever acknowledged at a face value; from the Ukraine war to the Ethiopian civil war, to Palestine’s plights, these governments do their best to evade accountability.

It is important to recognize that we do live in a country where we are working to dismantle colonial worldviews by sharing the truth about Canada’s racist history.

But truth and reconciliation without bold action from the different tiers of government will be worthless.

When peoples need changes, deeds are better than words.

Indigenous people still suffer from multitudes of problems such as stigma and discrimination in almost all public and private services; Indigenous children are still being kidnapped, tortured, and killed at rates far exceeding non-indigenous children; the public services where Indigenous communities live are below the national standard – many communities don’t even have access to clean, safe drinking water – and less advantages in all development indicators such as employment, housing, school completion, health, etc.

While one can conclude that the Indigenous peoples in Canada have almost all rights from constitutional and legal perspectives, these constitutional and legal rights are not fully embedded in policy operations and everyday social practices.

This is where the 94 Calls to Action, and Day of Truth and Reconciliation come in: every Canadian should rethink and contribute what we can to support Indigenous folks recover from the past and present injustice and enjoy their fullest rights as first nations of this ethnically diverse and multicultural country.