Reconciliation: “Nothing about us without us”

Before Canada. Before English and French. Before Spanish and Scandinavian. Before all of this were turtles. Turtles all the way down, holding up this island and the people who lived here. 

Who live here. 

Despite all efforts to force Indigenous people into Eurocentric culture—and there have been many—Indigenous people are here, practising culture, building community, speaking languages that, for too long, were spoken softly to keep them alive. 

Every June, folks in Canada have a chance to focus on the history of Indigenous Peoples and to celebrate all those who, despite risk to themselves, preserved culture and community. It is one month, but reconciliation is everyday work. 

The late Murray Sinclair, chair of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, left us many important words about reconciliation. These ones about being a young lawyer in a system designed to uphold colonial practices, are new to me: 

"When I came to the conclusion that I really didn’t fit in, I went and spoke to a very important Elder in my life. He said to me, 'You can quit, if you feel that it’s hurting you.' But he said: 'Remember this. You can go and become a carpenter—because that’s what I told him, I had skills working with wood—'but no matter what it is that you do, you will always know law. People will always know that you know the law, and they will always come to you.

“'What’s wrong,' he said, 'is that you’ve spent all of your life to this point studying in that Western white man’s system. You need to understand that your education is not finished now. You need now to learn what it means to be Anishinaabe. Once you’ve learned what that means, then you will be a better lawyer.' He said: 'Maybe you can help to change things’” (Maclean’s, August 2021).

I take away a few thoughts: 

  • The Elder recognized that Sinclair had access to a privileged world that affected Anishnaabe people. He gave Sinclair a call to action: build a bridge between the two worlds and transmit learning between them. 
  • That bridge would make it possible for more Anishnaabe people to become lawyers. Sinclair had a role as an influencer. 
  • That bridge should also make it possible for non-Indigenous people to learn about Anishnaabe ways of knowing.  

I understand that bridge is reconciliation. It is a path for those of us who are not Indigenous to reach out, to learn, and to act. Reconciliation means knowing that legal systems, healthcare, education, policing, child welfare, even my profession of communications, can adapt to include more Indigenous ways. There has been progress to unstick these systems from privilege and there is room for more adaptation as we learn more about each other. 

That work is on us to do, because turtles holding up the world and gravitational forces may have more in common than they seem. But, finding out is part of the journey. 

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