A Next Step in Truth and Reconciliation

Author, Omar El Akkad, gets it right when he asserts that the "privilege of temporary outrage" is a root problem in the world today. In an interview about his book, What a Strange Paradise, El Akkad describes his personal awakening to this moral failure by many advantaged members of society to sustain the care needed for those who suffer disproportionately. When speaking about a ship filled with migrants that sunk in the Mediterranean Sea on its way to Europe, he is quoted as saying, "Almost within 24 hours, all the outrage subsided and everybody moved on and everyone stopped caring." (Eric Volmers, "Dueling Fantasies: novel uses a fable-like construct to dismantle false narratives about different cultures", Ottawa Citizen, July 24, 2021.) In my own Ph.D. thesis, I wrote about the moral paralysis that many feel when faced with the past and present impacts of the historical violence and harm that European settlers inflicted upon Indigenous peoples in Canada. We cannot fall again into the privilege of temporary outrage or shrink in moral paralysis. But, we often do not know what to do with the new information of historical truths we now possess, so we tend to tuck it in the back of our minds and resettle into our comfort zones. 

Our Challenge as Settler Peoples

In the face of the tragic findings of the unmarked graves of Indigenous children who attended residential schools in Canada, most are absolutely horrified at the realities suffered by Indigenous children at the hands of government and Church authorities. Finally, something has pushed Canadians to listen and to become familiar with the 94 Calls in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report. The big challenge now is to keep going, not slip into the privilege of temporary outrage or moral paralysis. Our responsibility is to keep taking a next step on our life-long journey of learning more about the historical truths that created our country and to which we were previously blinded. Truth is imperative before we can even think about reconciliation. 

A Next Step

At the suggestion of many Indigenous peoples in Canada, a next step for Settler Canadians is to learn about Indigenous perspectives. One way to start is to read literature written by Indigenous authors, or watch an educational video or movie. It is summertime in Canada, often a good time to spend time in these activities. Below are some recommendations, based on my own favourite authors. 

• Richard Wagamese, Indian Horse (2012), also on Netflix
• Richard Wagamese, Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations (2013)
• Thomas King, The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America     (2012)
• Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the    Teachings of Plants (2015) or watch her teach about The Honorable Harvest on YouTube, (3:31    minutes).
• Michelle Good, Five Little Indians (2020)

You are invited to come back to this blog after the summer months in the northern hemisphere to continue the journey together from truth to reconciliation. The next problem we will awaken ourselves to is that of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) in Canada.