Hello Friends! About 35 years ago I began my journey of decolonization, truth and reconciliation. It began quite unconsciously back in the 1980's and 90's when I worked in Band-run schools and lived in First Nation communities in western Canada. I began to understand that my view of Canada and myself as Canadian was biased, limited, and often blatantly wrong. 

After several years of listening and learning, a red-tailed hawk touched me, twice on the shoulder on two separate occasions. I knew that I was being chosen for something. Since then, I have been waiting for Spirit to reveal what it is that I am being prepared for. Now, many years later I am ready and I know to what I am called and asked to do. 

Just before the recent discovery of  the unmarked graves of 215 children who attended Kamloops Residential School, I was drawn by Spirit to share more publicly my commitment to be and act in solidarity with First Peoples in Canada. The purpose of this sharing is for awareness raising and transformation. I want to help raise awareness among my people, settler people, who like me, generally benefit from all the systems in Canada: social, educational, medical, religious, economic, etc., while First Peoples continue to be disproportionately disadvantaged and dominated by these same systems. 

My commitment to solidarity with First Peoples is not unsubstantiated. My own personal journey has been richly blessed with many beloved friends and life-long teachers from whom I learn about Indigenous ways of being in the world. It is time for me to more fully honour the depth of these friendships and to share what I have learnt. I cannot live well if my sisters and those they love continue to be denied basic rights, like clean water, quality education and safety. 

Most Canadians are angry and shocked to hear that many children, as young as 3 years old, did not return to their families from the boarding schools they were forced to attend. However, the discovery of unmarked graves is not a shock to Indigenous peoples in Canada. 

Survivors of residential schools, who were traumatized from the experience have been telling the stories of these missing children for years. Many of the stories were recorded between 2007-2015 during Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Process (TRC). The Report includes 94 Calls to Action, six of which relate to missing children and burial information  (71-76). 

Even though stories about missing children and unmarked graves came out publicly during the TRC, many Canadians are just now waking up to these truths. As nations, we are not yet ready for reconciliation. Canadians are only now beginning to wake up to the reality of some of the tragically horrific truths. We have a long way to go. 

In 2016, Honourable Murray Sinclair, Chair of the TRC, said, “If you thought getting to the truth was hard, getting to reconciliation is going to be really hard.” We must start somewhere and it must be with truth. Indigenous Peoples and Settler Canadians are all here together in the country we call Canada. Settler friends, transformation is needed. We must choose how we want to live our common journey forward. I hope we choose the way that begins with truth.

Where can we begin? Start by filling in the AWARENESS gaps in our understanding of Canada's history. Below are two suggestions to start:

Listen to this 11 minute video: 

Become familiar with the TRC Report, including the 94 Calls to Action: Read Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada