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Articles on TRC

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A rare photo from an Indian Residential School in Fort Resolution, N.W.T. These systems have been labeled a form of genocide by the Canadian House of Commons. (Department of Mines and Technical Surveys/Library and Archives Canada)

Residential school system recognized as genocide in Canada’s House of Commons: A harbinger of change

Canada’s recent resolution to label the Indian Residential School system as genocide (and not cultural genocide) is not a mere alteration of words, it is a significant and consequential change.
Chief commissioner Marion Buller and commissioners Brian Eyolfson, Qajaq Robinson and Michele Audette prepare the final report to give to the government at the closing ceremony for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Two years after the MMIWG report, targeted work must move urgently ahead

The MMIWG Inquiry two years later: What’s changed and what still needs to be done?
We need more positive Indigenous-settler alliances like the one with Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, which created 24 km Freedom Road to provide access to the Trans-Canada Highway. Here a teepee frame sits beside Shoal Lake. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

How the COVID-19 crisis calls us towards reconciliation

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis could represent an opportunity to live up to all the recent talk of reconciliation in Canada.
Regional Chief Terry Teegee speaks to the press n Victoria on Oct. 24, 2019 after Premier John Horgan announced Indigenous human rights will be recognized in B.C. with new legislation . THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolit

B.C. takes historic steps towards the rights of Indigenous Peoples, but the hard work is yet to come

British Columbia recently introduced groundbreaking legislation to implement the rights of Indigenous Peoples. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of this historic achievement.
Apologies without clear policy shift are typically rejected as ‘empty gestures.’ Here, more than 100 Indigenous people march on Parliament Hill in 1981 to protest the elimination of Aboriginal rights in the proposed Canadian Constitution. The Canadian Press/Carl Bigras

The road to reconciliation starts with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

It’s the 12th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canada has yet to implement this declaration even though the TRC says the road to reconciliation needs to start here.
Students stage a walkout to raise awareness about systemic discrimination in the Canadian justice system during a protest at the University of Victoria in Victoria, B.C., on March 14, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

What does ‘We are all treaty people’ mean, and who speaks for Indigenous students on campus?

As students and faculty start a new academic year, it’s a good time to highlight the barriers to Indigenizing the campus and the importance of Indigenous voices on campus.
It is entirely unprecedented to have a sitting head of government admitting to ongoing genocide. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during ceremonies at the release of the MMIWG report in Gatineau, on June 3. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Genocide is foundational to Canada: What are we going to do about it?

Political scientists concern themselves with ideas of democracy. Now that Canada’s PM has accepted the finding of genocide, this changes how and what political scientists need to discuss.
In this October 1998 photo, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu dance after Tutu handed over the final report of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Pretoria. (AP Photo/Zoe Selsky)

Do truth and reconciliation commissions heal divided nations?

Wherever there is an ugly, unresolved injustice pulling at the fabric of a society, there is an opportunity to haul it out in public and deal with it through a truth commission.
Bernie Williams, right, a women’s advocate in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, embraces Carmen Paterson while testifying at the final day of hearings at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, in Richmond, B.C., on April 8, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

Can we really teach ‘Indigenizing’ courses online?

University “Indigenization” efforts using Massive Open Online Courses promise to reach wide audiences. They also raise critical questions about how to embody Indigenous ways of knowing and relating.

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