Issue #21 | View PDF
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What is Reconciliation?
Native News with Dave Seaweed
By Dave Seaweed
Hey gang, I’m back. First I would like to thank, nay, applaud Nikalas’ story about the Lieutenant Governor’s visit to Douglas College in last week’s issue. What I intend to do this week is briefly expand on the meaning of “Reconciliation” as it applies to Aboriginal People.Douglas College is currently hosting a speaker series called “Reconciliation: The Experience of BC Peoples.” The purpose of this series is to shed light upon the topic of reconciliation between the Aboriginal people of British Columbia and the province’s other citizens. This series is aimed at helping the general college community to become aware and involved in the dialogue on this topic.
The series was the brainchild of my Dean, Ted James, and a Douglas Anthropology Instructor, Tad McIlwraith. These men have also put together a proposal for government funding, but I shall explain this more in a later issue. For now, let’s just stick to the topic of reconciliation, and what it means to staff, students, and the broader public.
In the context of Native relations, reconciliation has several dimensions:
Looking at the Past
Reconciliation is about recognizing the terrible injustices that have been inflicted on Aboriginal people in the past. These include the displacement of Aboriginal people from their ancestral lands, making potlatches and other cultural expressions illegal and punishing those who practiced them, removing Aboriginal children from their families and placing them in residential schools where they were abused and mistreated, and other polices designed to force the assimilation of Aboriginal people into the dominant culture of European heritage. Reconciliation means publicly apologizing for these wrongs.
Looking to the Future
Reconciliation is about forging future relationships with Aboriginal peoples that respect their culture, traditions and cosmology. It means finding lasting solutions to land claims and other outstanding settlements. It means building public education and healthcare systems that both reflect and respond to Aboriginal needs. It means creating ways and means for Aboriginal culture and heritage to be appropriately reflected in the portrayal of our society.
Looking Within
Reconciliation is also about appreciating the depth and range of the diversity that exists among the many peoples of the province of British Columbia. We are a mosaic of people with different identities, customs and cultures. Rather than seeking to devalue or displace these differences, our society can draw upon them as sources of richness and variety. We have much to learn from these differences. And we each have a role and responsibility to travel that path. To fully understand ourselves, we must comprehend how others see us and how they see themselves.
Provincial Goals for Reconciliation
The provincial government has embraced an official policy of reconciliation with Aboriginal people and it seeks to shape a new experience for all people in British Columbia based on that concept.
In March 2005, the Province began meetings with representatives of the First Nations Summit, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and the B.C. Assembly of First Nations to develop new approaches for consultation and accommodation and a vision for a New Relationship to deal with Aboriginal concerns based on openness, transparency and collaboration —one that reduces uncertainty, litigation and conflict for all British Columbians.
A five-page document, outlining the vision and principles of the new relationship, was developed as a result of these meetings. It broaches the topic of a new government-to-government relationship with Aboriginals, including new processes and structures for coordination, and working together to make decisions about the use of land and resources. The document proposes discussion of revenue-sharing to reflect Aboriginal rights and title interests and to assist Aboriginals with economic development. In addition, the document sets out a plan for developing scenarios under which these concepts could be made to work.
What About You?
What does reconciliation among the peoples of BC mean to you? What questions do you have that need answering? What information do you need to have an informed opinion? What action do you think the government should be taking? What action should Aboriginal people be taking? And what action should you be taking to further or refine the goal of reconciliation in our society?
The province of British Columbia is currently engaged in a series of initiatives designed to forge a new relationship with Aboriginal people in areas of treaty negotiations, land claims, education and health care, among others. The overarching theme to these initiatives is reconciliation—the desire to understand and redress the hardships endured by Aboriginal people as part of the legacy of a tragic history and to move forward with mutual respect and recognition.