In contemplating the meaning of this year’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we offer two excerpts from Monday’s edition of CBC Radio’s The Current, presented by host Matt Galloway, that shed light on where we are on the question of reconciling relations between Indigenous and settler populations.
First, a reflection on the residential school system from the book Who We Are: Four Questions for a Life and a Nation, the memoir of Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as read by the author.
The legacy of those schools is very much alive. It lives on in the daily experiences of the survivors in this country. It lives on in their attitudes about themselves and in the opportunities that are or are not open to them. it lives on in their children who do not know their languages or their cultures. And who are denied the chance to gain a sense of self-respect from schools that constantly portrayed their people as savages, heathens, uncivilized, treacherous, sneaky, dishonest, thieving and irrelevant. It lives on in the lives of aboriginal parents who spent years living in institutions where they would never have learned to parent properly or to participate in normal family life. And it lives on in the lives of the children and grandchildren of those parents. It lives on in the lives of Indigenous peoples, and non-Indigenous peoples too, who don’t know much about where they come from, where they are going, why they are here and who they are. Non-Indigenous people cannot answer Indigenous questions, but they can help facilitate a path in understanding how connected, interdependent and human we all are and can be. In the same vein, non-Indigenous peoples don’t know that their identities and cultures are partly created by their connections with Indigenous peoples, or that working with Indigenous communities is the most important journey that Canada and, frankly, the world must take. This is why the creation of strong, healthy and vibrant Indigenous communities is the only path to reconciliation for all peoples.
Second, the answer of singer-songwriter William Prince to Galloway’s question about the meaning of Stand in the Joy, the title of Prince’s album and a phrase in his song Peace of Mind.
Well, standing in the joy is the active choice and practice of looking around at the things we have, rather than focusing or sitting in the things that have either not been intended for us, not meant for us or had passed us, and it’s not allowing worry and anxiety and those things to rob us of the joys of the present. Because we don’t know how long we’re going to be here. And I think of the people in my life and the legacy I want to leave behind, it’s hopefully not just one of serious contemplation and getting through struggles. You know, the first decade of my recorded career was very focused on grief and transition out of a difficult time, the loss of my father, becoming a father. So, while I’ve been quite comfortable in speaking of those things, joy and happiness is a huge part of who I am too. And I was raised in a place where happiness could sometimes feel insensitive, where you can’t really celebrate your accomplishments, you can’t really lift up what’s making you joyous because it may rub somebody the wrong way, it may feel or look insensitive to somebody who’s having an even harder time. I too hail from the Peguis First Nation so proudly, and like any place, it has its challenges. But it also has its beautiful victories, and it has its youth that are shining so bright, just like I was, you know, as a kid chasing a dream. I do a disservice to those that love me and care for me and have watched me climb in any way, by not leaning into the good, not standing in the joy, not saying I’m happy today and letting my big cheeks smile, even though it’s not the most ideal photo to me sometimes. One day my son is going to look back and he’s going to say, you know, my dad was happy, my dad had a good time while he was here with us. So, that’s the important thing to me, is leaving a legacy of standing in the joy, and choosing it. Even though it can feel a little vulnerable and foreign at times, I’m going to stand in the joy, where I’ve never stood before, proudly, proclaiming these things that we’re talking about here today.
The strength, courage, resilience, patience and grace of Indigenous peoples through centuries of racism, oppression, genocide and inter-generational trauma, are a humbling and compelling call for all of us to learn and acknowledge the truth of our history as a first step toward reconciliation.
