University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog: In the Media: "Beyond 94"

March 23, 2018

In the Media: "Beyond 94"

Screengrab from “Beyond 94” online: <newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform-single/beyond-94?&cta=1>.

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

The CBC has recently announced an online reconciliation tracker that can be used by the public to see how Canada has responded to the 94 Calls of Action released by the TRC in 2015. As of March 2018, just 10 of the 94 Calls to Action have been completed. What’s been completed, and the 84 others that haven’t been responded to sufficiently, are each detailed on the new, interactive website.

The project provides a number of ways to interact with the content. One feature of the website is the ability to hearing stories of survivors on-demand that had been presented during the TRC tour across Canada. Each call to action is categorized into 6 different types:

"Not started": “no action plan has been developed and/or no funds have been committed to implement the Call to Action.”
"In Progress — Projects proposed": relevant parties involved “have either committed to an action plan or funding, but not yet followed through with it.”
"In Progress — Projects underway": relevant parties involved are “actively working towards implementing that call, with both a timeline and (where needed) the funding to make it happen.”
"Complete": these Calls to Action have been “fully implemented.”

Which calls to action have been completed?

Call to Action #13: Acknowledge that Aboriginal rights include Aboriginal language rights.
- Completed by the Federal Government in June 2017.

Call to Action #39: Collect and publish data on the criminal victimization of Aboriginal people.
- Completed by a federal Department of Justice’s report called "Indigenous overrepresentation in the criminal justice system” in January 2017.

Call to Action #41: Appoint a public inquiry into the causes of, and remedies for, the disproportionate victimization of Aboriginal women and girls
- This call is considered complete as of December 2015, when the federal government announced the launch of a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Call to Action #59: Church parties to residential school settlement to educate congregations on why apologies necessary
- “KAIROS Canada’s Blanket Exercise is a particularly important educational resource that many of the churches use to teach their congregations about the history of residential schools.”

Call to Action #83: Canada Council for the Arts to establish a strategy for Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists to undertake collaborative projects
- Completed by inclusion in the Council for the Arts strategic plan.

Call to Action #84: Restore and increase funding to the CBC/Radio-Canada to enable it to support reconciliation
- Although the funding for CBC/Radio-Canada was increased by 75 million in 2016’s Budget, “public funding cannot be tied to specific types of programming which would conflict with the programming independence set out in the Broadcasting Act.”

Call to Action #85: Aboriginal Peoples Television Network to support reconciliation
- “APTN produces 75 per cent Canadian content, the vast majority which reflects the cultures, languages and perspectives of Aboriginal peoples.”

Call to Action #87: Tell the stories of Aboriginal athletes in history
- Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame launched an online exhibit that includes a segment about Indigenous Athletes in December 2017.

Call to Action #88: Continued support for the North American Indigenous Games
- In April 2017, the federal government increased and confirmed continuous yearly funding for the North American Indigenous Games.

Call to Action #90: Ensure that national sports policies, programs and initiatives are inclusive of Aboriginal Peoples
- Sport Canada reinstated funding to the Aboriginal Sport Circle, a national organization that advocates for athletic resources for Indigenous, Métis and Inuit peoples in 2015.

It seems that a common trend among completed objectives is that they require funding from the federal government, or acknowledgment in some way. However, the TRC was released in 2015 -- it is now 2018 and only 11% of the calls have been completed. It is time for more of these calls to action to be responded to, and ultimately, completed. Zero calls to action regarding child welfare, education, or health have been completed. One call has been completed regarding language and culture. Two calls have been completed regarding justice.

This is unacceptable. The TRC Calls to Action are not a to-do list to be completed over the next 20 years; they are steps that must be taken imminently to better the plight of Indigenous survivors in Canada. For more information and to explore the new interactive website, follow this link: http://bit.ly/2u1KnAt.

Until next time,

Team ReconciliAction YEG

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[1] All information obtained from: “Beyond 94”, CBC News, online: <newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform-single/beyond-94?&cta=>.

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Posted by ReconciliAction YEG on March 23, 2018 at 08:30 AM in Aboriginal Law | Permalink

Tags: Aboriginal law, allies, ally, Beyond 94, Call to Action, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian law, canadian politics, CBC, colonialism, colonization, colonization, decolonization, Indigeneity, Indigenous, Indigenous laws, Indigenous peoples, law blog, law school, mandatory education, reconcili-action, reconciliaction, required course, resistance, resurgence, settler colonialism, solidarity, TRC, truth, truth and reconciliation, university, university of Alberta

Comments

Screengrab from “Beyond 94” online: <newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform-single/beyond-94?&cta=1>.

Tansi Nîtôtemtik,

"Not started": “no action plan has been developed and/or no funds have been committed to implement the Call to Action.”
"In Progress — Projects proposed": relevant parties involved “have either committed to an action plan or funding, but not yet followed through with it.”
"In Progress — Projects underway": relevant parties involved are “actively working towards implementing that call, with both a timeline and (where needed) the funding to make it happen.”
"Complete": these Calls to Action have been “fully implemented.”

Which calls to action have been completed?

Call to Action #13: Acknowledge that Aboriginal rights include Aboriginal language rights.
- Completed by the Federal Government in June 2017.

Call to Action #39: Collect and publish data on the criminal victimization of Aboriginal people.
- Completed by a federal Department of Justice’s report called "Indigenous overrepresentation in the criminal justice system” in January 2017.

Call to Action #41: Appoint a public inquiry into the causes of, and remedies for, the disproportionate victimization of Aboriginal women and girls
- This call is considered complete as of December 2015, when the federal government announced the launch of a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Call to Action #59: Church parties to residential school settlement to educate congregations on why apologies necessary
- “KAIROS Canada’s Blanket Exercise is a particularly important educational resource that many of the churches use to teach their congregations about the history of residential schools.”

Call to Action #83: Canada Council for the Arts to establish a strategy for Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists to undertake collaborative projects
- Completed by inclusion in the Council for the Arts strategic plan.

Call to Action #84: Restore and increase funding to the CBC/Radio-Canada to enable it to support reconciliation
- Although the funding for CBC/Radio-Canada was increased by 75 million in 2016’s Budget, “public funding cannot be tied to specific types of programming which would conflict with the programming independence set out in the Broadcasting Act.”

Call to Action #85: Aboriginal Peoples Television Network to support reconciliation
- “APTN produces 75 per cent Canadian content, the vast majority which reflects the cultures, languages and perspectives of Aboriginal peoples.”

Call to Action #87: Tell the stories of Aboriginal athletes in history
- Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame launched an online exhibit that includes a segment about Indigenous Athletes in December 2017.

Call to Action #88: Continued support for the North American Indigenous Games
- In April 2017, the federal government increased and confirmed continuous yearly funding for the North American Indigenous Games.

Call to Action #90: Ensure that national sports policies, programs and initiatives are inclusive of Aboriginal Peoples
- Sport Canada reinstated funding to the Aboriginal Sport Circle, a national organization that advocates for athletic resources for Indigenous, Métis and Inuit peoples in 2015.