Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
Image retrieved from CBC News <newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform-single/beyond-94?&cta=20>.
In this, our final week of regular content for the academic year, our current team of ReconciliAction YEG contributors wanted to interact with our predecessors over the last two years and provide a “Report Card” of sorts on topics in Reconciliation previously covered on the blog. We wanted to provide a meaningful check-in on topics that are still relevant, and in doing so, highlight Canada’s current state of Reconciliation. We would like to discuss the areas where improvement and attention are needed, and point towards opportunities for our readers to get involved in the process of Reconciliation.
Today’s post interacts with one written in ReconciliAction YEG’s first year, featuring CBC’s ‘Beyond 94’ interactive website on the progress of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.[1] You can read the post here.[2] That post, written March 23, 2018, reported that the current progress on the 94 Calls to Action was as follows:
- 10 Calls to Action had been completed;
- 0 Calls regarding child welfare, education, and health care had been completed;
- 1 Call had been completed regarding language and culture;
- 2 Calls had been completed regarding justice; and
- 7 Calls had been completed regarding Reconciliation.[3]
As of CBC’s most recent update of the Beyond 94 website, on January 22, 2020, these numbers have not changed; today, only 10 Calls to Action have been completed.
Encouragingly, there are an additional 60 Calls to Action with an “In Progress” status. 21 Calls to Action are classified under “Projects underway” and 39 Calls to Action under “Projects proposed.” However, 24 Calls to Action are listed as “Not started.”
Of the 21 Calls to Action “In Progress – Projects underway,” there are:
- 6 Calls regarding child welfare, education, and health care;
- 4 Calls regarding language and culture;
- 0 Calls regarding justice; and
- 11 Calls regarding Reconciliation.
17 Calls had projects undertaken during or before 2018. A few of those projects undertaken regarding Reconciliation are related to church parties involved with residential schools in the past. These groups are working towards Reconciliation by implementing educational programs for clergy working with Indigenous groups; church participation in culture revitalization projects; and renouncing the Doctrine of Discovery and the principle of terra nullius. Notably, those Calls to Action involving government funding seem to be stalemated, such as progress on Call 78, which since 2018 has not seen government monetary contribution to the previously promised $10 million over seven years to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.
4 Calls had projects undertaken in 2019 or later. Significantly, 2019 saw the passing of An Act respecting Indigenous languages (Bill C-91) as well as an act that would create the Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages (Calls 14 and 15). However, neither of these fully address the elements of Calls 14 and 15.
Of the 39 Calls to Action “In Progress – Projects proposed,” there are:
- 10 Calls regarding child welfare, education, and health care;
- *All Calls regarding language and culture either completed or in projects underway*;
- 11 Calls regarding justice; and
- 18 Calls regarding Reconciliation.
28 Calls had projects proposed in or before 2018. Some of the Projects proposed regarding Reconciliation have “died in the Senate,” such as progress on Call 80 which called for the establishment of a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Other projects, such as the one undertaken in response to Call 57, which called for the programs to be created to educate public servants on the history of Aboriginal peoples, have made important progress. The KAIROS Blanket Exercise, now required participation for University of Alberta first year law students, was developed in response to Call 57. One of our contributors helped facilitate the KAIROS Blanket Exercise a few months ago, and you can read about her experience here.[4]
11 Calls had projects proposed in 2019 or later. Some of these projects are highlighted, as follows:
- In response to Calls 66, 73, and 74, the 2019 federal budget committed funding to:
- the creation of an online residential school cemetery registry as well as to provide opportunities for commemoration (Calls 73 and 74); and
- provide $15.2 million over three years for a pilot program to support Indigenous youth reconciliation initiatives (Call 66).
- In December of 2019, the Trudeau government promised to introduce legislation within a year to implement UNDRIP (Calls 43 and 44).
- In response to Call 34, which called upon the criminal justice system to better address the needs of offenders with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), Manitoba opened Canada’s first sentencing court specifically for offenders with FASD.
- In response to Call 27, which called for lawyers to receive appropriate cultural competency training, the Law Society of British Columbia moved to require Indigenous cultural competency training for all lawyers practising in the province by 2021.
- In response to Call 28, which calls for law students to be required to take a course in Aboriginal people and the law, two universities in Canada – Lakehead University and Windsor University – have mandated an Indigenous law course as required for its law students.
Two years have passed since our original post featuring CBC’s Beyond 94 website and almost five years since the release of the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action in 2015. However, only 10 Calls have been completed and 24 Calls remain unaddressed. While it is hopeful that 15 additional Calls are being responded to through proposed projects or projects already underway but in most cases, a commitment to the completion of the Calls to Action in the long-term is required. The federal government must do more than promise action and funding – Reconciliation must be a prominent value and a targeted goal not only for Canada’s government but also for Canadian citizens if meaningful progress towards the completion of the Calls to Action is to be made. Like that first ReconciliAction YEG contributor to discuss Beyond 94 two years ago, we stand in agreement today in 2020 with what she had to say on the pace of Canada’s progress in completing the Calls to Action:
[It] is unacceptable. The TRC Calls to Action are not a to-do list… they are steps that must be taken imminently to better the plight of Indigenous survivors in Canada.[5]
With 10 Calls to Action complete in the 5 years since the release of the TRC Final Report, the average pace of completion is 2 per year. At that rate, all 94 Calls to Action will not be completed until 2062. The time for Reconciliation is now.
Yours Truly,
Team ReconciliAction YEG
---
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all information retrieved from CBC News, “Beyond 94: Truth and Reconciliation in Canada” (last updated 22 January 2020), online: CBC News <newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform-single/beyond-94?&cta=32> [Beyond 94].
[2] ReconciliAction YEG, “In the Media: “Beyond 94”” (23 March 2018), online: University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2018/03/in-the-media-beyond-94.html>.
[3] Ibid.
[4] ReconciliAction YEG, “Reflection Post: The KAIROS Blanket Exercise, View from a Facilitator”, (20 September 2019) online (blog): University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty Blog <ualbertalaw.typepad.com/faculty/2019/09/reflection-post-the-kairos-blanket-exercise-view-from-a-facilitator.html>.
[5] Supra note 2.
