Ten years after TRC final report released, is reconciliation losing momentum?

It has been ten years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report and some feel the initiative is losing momentum. “In order for reconciliation, for that word to have any meaning, there needs to be reconciliaction,” said Cody Coyote. “There needs to be the prioritization of the 94 Calls to Action from the TRC. “Like, if we are looking at things and how many have been implemented since it was initially released. Why has it taken so long?” Coyote’s family is from the Matachewan First Nation in northern Ontario, but he makes his home in Ottawa. He was speaking to APTN News at the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event on Parliament Hill on Tuesday. Residential school survivor Richard Ejinagosi Kistabish was also at the event and one of the keynote speakers. He is an Anishinaabe Elder who attended the Saint-Marc-de-Figuery residential school in northwestern Quebec from the mid-1950s to mid-1960s. Ejinagosi Kistabish said progress may be slow but things are changing. “At the beginning, it was just me alone doing all these celebrations because I wanted to talk about the issue of residential school and the impact it created in our community,” he said. “So, at the beginning, I have only one person who attended my conference (pointing to himself). Today it’s a million. It’s amazing. This is crazy,” he said pointing to the crowd of orange shirts gathered on Parliament Hill. Coyote works with youth and said he encourages young people to attend the Sept. 30 events as often as they can. “Whatever they might hear today, whether it’s a story from speaking with some of the survivors here or maybe the program, my hope is that they’re going to carry that with them and they’re going to share it with the ones that are coming up after them and that sort of thing.” Ejinagosi Kistabish added you never know who you might run into on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and what story you might have to tell. “This morning I was wearing this t-shirt, you know, and someone from Japan says, ‘What’s the 215 mean?’ He saw the number and I have to tell that story.” Executive Director for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Stephanie Scott chose to confront residential school denialism in her speech. “Even as we are still climbing, there are people out there who want to drag us back down. Who want to distort and deny the history of residential schools and we all know this must stop now.” Other keynote speakers at Tuesday’s event included Governor General Mary Simon and Prime Minister Mark Carney. Continue Reading