Reconciliation Barometer
All of the work we do at Simon Fraser University (SFU) Community Economic Development (CED) in empowering and supporting purpose-led CED work by individuals and organizations, occurs on the traditional and unceded lands of many nations including my own community, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), our neighboring community, səĺilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and xwmə0kwəy̓ əm (Musqueam). I work remotely within my husband’s traditional and unceded lands of the Sylix and Nlaka'pamux people, or what is known as the Nicola Valley, BC. As a diverse and remotely working team, land acknowledgments allow us to engage in ongoing Reconciliation actions by reflecting on our individual spaces, where we each live, work and play.
We acknowledge Reconciliation is deep and meaningful work and we are committed to actions to move through the journey of truth telling and actions for reconciliation. SFU CED knows these efforts are part of ongoing conversations and therefore as we learn, so does our internal review of our approach and spaces we each create in the work we do daily. We encourage our team, instructors, students, our educational institution and partners to take time to learn about the lands they are currently on as part of an active effort to centre reconciliation. We acknowledge that this is just the beginning of this work required, but an integral one as we move through it together.
The BC Economic Reconciliation Framework for Municipalities, Institutions and Industry partners (link to the SFU CED ER Framework webpage), written by Sxwpilemaát Siyám and Lily Raphael, is a living document that invites the reader to be curious and imagine what else is possible beyond our current economic system. How can this be achieved through Economic Reconciliation, from our current state to a desired future state of wealth and well-being, embedded in Indigenous values, worldviews, ways of being and ways of knowing. We begin the journey down this river by being curious about who’s land is it, sharing some truths about Canadians History and on-going relationship with Indigenous Peoples of this country we call Canada, on sharing about the progress on the Truth and Reconciliation’s Call to Action #92, once again by questioning, has progress been made and who is creating accountability for Canada’s progress?
There’s a lot more to the BC Economic Reconciliation Framework, and will be revealed soon. Th focus of this story is to be curious about where is Reconciliation at in Canada? One of convening participants shared that “Reconciliation has become the sprinkles on the cupcake. The foundational components of the cupcake are not changing.” Meaning that Reconciliation has just become a list of superficial boxes to tick to say that something was done to achieve it, again without truth telling, healing, rawness, uncomfortableness, and building the relationships needed to do the real work needed for equity and inclusion. Not to say that many Canadians aren’t real ally’s and that their companies, organizations and entities aren’t doing this work in a meaningful way. It’s just that many are only wanting the quick solutions without having to do the hard work required for true Reconciliation.
Reconciliation is not for the faint of heart and requires a level of commitment to open oneself up in ways that our education systems don’t teach us, our economic systems don’t support, Corporate Canada doesn’t provide space for, etc. It’s a human experience and requires are our hearts to be a long this journey, to continue the work laid out by our ancestors and to be accountable to the people yet to be, while sustaining what is left of mother earth, all that she offers us to thrive, and all her creatures that share our spaces. This requires respect, humility, integrity, responsibility, and willingness to see the world in new ways and adapt to them, for the sake of our children. I want my son to read this Framework and now in his heart, that this was him so that he doesn’t bare this responsibility. I want his leadership to be free of as much of this burden as possible. I want him to thrive in ways that we didn’t was possible, from his spirit through his human experience in his lifetime.
Thus, I ask, like so many Indigenous Peoples and their ally’s throughout Canada, how are we doing when it comes to Reconciliation? We know the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People’s in 1996 laid out a detailed roadmap for Reconciliation in Canada, which was ignored by the Federal Government and its leadership at that time. And since then, there had been much disappointment by Canada’s Indigenous Peoples concerning efforts towards Reconciliation. Until the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada published its Report and 94 Calls to Action in June 2015 after several years of work. There are several spaces where we can investigate the barometer of Reconciliation in Canada:
Check out this website to see one organization’s research into the discrepancies between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Canadians perspectives on Reconciliation.
2) Yellowhead Institute Calls to Action Accountability: A 2021 Status Update on Reconciliation
The 2021 reports shares “an ongoing failure by the federal government to meaningfully enact the Calls to Action that would alter the disparate realities that Indigenous peoples experience in this country. With each passing year, Canada opts to perform reconciliation in an effort to shape a benevolent reputation rather than enact the substantial and structural changes that would rectify ongoing harms and change the course of our collective relationship.”
3) Progress on Realizing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, a report by Assembly of First Nations
The AFN’s 2020 report shares that some progress has been made overall as it pertains to the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action, but with respect to Call to Action #92 - Business and Reconciliation, noted that “Little progress has been made in this area. There needs to be more inclusion with Indigenous Organizations to advance the status of this Call to Action.”
This website tracks progress over 6-8 weeks on average and provides updates in an aggregate form and shares what is happening within that time period – good and bad, big and small, substantive and less so – across the full spectrum of Indigenous issues.
5) The Reconciliation and Responsible Investment Initiative (SHARE and NATOA partnership)
The 2021 report, Business and Reconciliation: An Update Exploring the Performance of Public Companies in Canada, reviewed company disclosures using a broad set of indicators to measure progress in advancing reconciliation since the release of a benchmark report in 2017 and shares that “Companies may provide qualitative or “piecemeal information” with regards to reconciliation efforts rather than a more built out progress evaluation”.
In closing, I leave you with on example of one company’s Reconciliation Action Plan, which could be used as a Wise Practice for any organization in any sector, government, non-profit, business, association, etc. This is only one of many out there. Again, one has to commit to doing the hard work on the journey of Reconciliation. Briteweb has demonstrated one such action along this journey through the 2022-2023 Reconciliation Action Plan.
