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Articles on Truth and Reconciliation in Canada

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The Saskatchewan Legislative Building in Regina. Indigenous leaders have criticized the province’s updated consultation framework saying it excludes Indigenous nations. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor

Saskatchewan’s revised policy for consulting Indigenous nations is not nearly good enough

Saskatchewan’s provincial government must work with Indigenous nations on a shared vision for the future that is more likely to withstand the tests of time and litigation.
Kwetiio, Kahentinetha and Karakwine (from left to right), three of the six Mohawk Mothers seeking to uncover unmarked graves at the former Royal Victoria Hospital in Montréal. (Justin Heritage)

Mapping unmarked graves: Why the Mohawk Mothers are fighting McGill University

Debates over what “mapping” means show how Indigenous communities still have to advocate for and defend their cartographic methods in order to uphold their connections to the land.
The Blue Quills Indian Residential School in St. Paul, Alta., Aug. 15, 1931. When the federal government announced plans to shutter the school in 1970, the community fought back, and Blue Quills became the first residence and school controlled by First Nations people in Canada. (Provincial Archives of Alberta)

Inside the search for the unmarked graves of children lost to Indian Residential Schools

To honour Truth and Reconciliation Day, we spoke with Terri Cardinal, who headed up one of the many community searches for the children who went missing while attending an Indian Residential School.
Neighbours from Tla’amin, K’omoks, Qualicum and Tsimshian Nations gather around the newly. erected plaque on Xwe’etay honoring the ancestral Indigenous people of the island. (Kathy Schulz)

How community-engaged archaeology can be a pathway to reconciliation

One project on a small island in B.C. is demonstrating how archaeology can bring communities together and serve as a basis for reconciliation.
An Indigenous flag flies in front of Parliament during the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Sept. 30, 2021. To live up to the intentions of UNDRIP, Canada must work with Indigenous communities to change harmful laws. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

UNDRIP 15 years on: Genuine truth and reconciliation requires legislative reform

To fully implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Canada must engage in genuine and inclusive law reform.
Alex Bird (second from the left) and his siblings from the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation were among the first students to attend this public school, near Prince George, B.C., in the early 1910s. (Royal B.C. Museum, Image B-00342, British Columbia Archives)

Reckoning with the history of public schooling and settler colonialism

In B.C., residential school principals sat on public school boards, and some Indigenous children even attended public schools. Understanding such links matters for truth and reconciliation.
Pope Francis arrives to a hero’s welcome at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on July 26, 2022, to take part in a public mass. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

I survived the ’60s Scoop. Here’s why the Pope’s apology isn’t an apology at all

Apologizing for people versus the establishment that upheld not only the Indian Residential Schools system but protected – and continues to protect — the people who committed the crimes is horrifying.
Drawing of St. Peter’s cathedral, Rome, with the Vatican wall in the left distance, c. 1640. (The Trustees of the British Museum)

The Vatican and Western Canadian missions: A brief history

Residential schools and the papal bulls justifying the doctrine of discovery call out for concrete acts of atonement and reparation on the part of the church.
Pope Francis’s visit to Canada will offer him an opportunity to apologize for the harms of the Catholic-run Indian Residential Schools. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Why the Pope’s visit is important to all Canadians

Pope Francis’ visit concerns all Canadians. It’s about our relationship to history and the construction of a state that marginalized Indigenous people and tried to assimilate them.
Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation children play in water sprinklers during National Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations in Mississauga, Ont., on June 21, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Are the kids alright? Why Canada must urgently step up to ensure children’s rights

Under international law, children have the right to be heard in legal proceedings directly or indirectly affecting them. Canada must step up to ensure all human rights apply to kids as they do adults.
People stand on Parliament Hill in July 2021 alongside a makeshift memorial for children who died at Indian Residential Schools during a rally to demand an independent investigation into Canada’s crimes against Indigenous Peoples. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Newcomers to Canada support Indigenous Peoples and reconciliation

Newcomers to Canada tend to be more supportive of Indigenous Peoples and reconciliation than other Canadians.
Gerald Antoine, Northwest Territories regional chief and Assembly of First Nations lead delegate to Rome, is flanked by Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, left, and Cassidy Caron, Métis National Council president, in St.Peter’s Square in Rome, after their meeting with Pope Francis on April 1. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis’s apology for residential schools doesn’t acknowledge institutional responsibility

As a theologian who studies church apologies for historical wrongs, I understand why the Pope was moved to speak this week, but I hope this was not his definitive apology.
An upside down maple leaf is tucked behind a plaque as people gather on Parliament Hill in Ottawa at a rally to honour the lives lost to residential schools and demand justice for Indigenous peoples, on Canada Day, July 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Reconciliation and Residential Schools: Canadians need new stories to face a future better than what we inherited

Considering our relationships to stories about the past and looking at learning as a process of encounter can help Canadians to become better treaty partners.
Handprints are seen on the side of a truck riding in a convoy of truckers and other vehicles in support of the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc people after the remains of 215 children were discovered buried near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, in Kamloops, B.C.. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

How Canada committed genocide against Indigenous Peoples, explained by the lawyer central to the determination

Ending the Canadian genocide of Indigenous peoples is a legal obligation, requiring honest, active decolonization. The lawyer who wrote the MMIWG’s inquiry’s legal analysis of genocide explains.
Margaret Swan, left, embraces Mariette Buckshot after she spoke during an Indian Day school litigation announcement in Ottawa, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Indian day school survivors are seeking truth and justice

Canada is accepting claims emerging from a settlement with survivors of Indian day schools, but there has yet to be a public inquiry. There is an urgent need to hold Canada accountable.

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