Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
Yes, we've said our goodbyes for the year and wrapped things up for the term. As it turns out, it is hard to stay away when there is so much happening every day and we have been given this opportunity to use our voice.
Today we want to highlight another blog that we feel brings an important personal context to the social and legal issues faced by Indigenous people in Canada.
On his blog, Action & Justice Everyday, Community Organizer & Public Speaker, Michael Redhead Champagne recently asked the following question: Which Calls to Action/Calls for Justice do you work on every day?
Most of the focus on the ReconciliAction YEG blog has been geared toward the systems where the injustices against Indigenous people originated and continue to be perpetuated. Reconciliation, to our team, is the duty that these systems have to right these historic wrongs and take active steps that will improve nation-to-nation relations and eliminate the ongoing systemic discrimination. Champagne's post brings attention to the fact that reconciliation isn't just about systemic level oppression and action, but about efforts made at the individual level as well.
The post first draws attention to the TRC Calls to Action released 5 years ago, the Report of the Inquiry on MMIWG Calls to Justice released in 2018, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people, before highlighting just a small sampling of recent events that illustrate how much work is still to be done.
Champagne encourages non-Indigenous Canadians who want to further reconciliation to take some of the duty of reconciliation upon themselves. He provides the following simple framework to do this:
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Read the MMIWG and TRC reports.
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Bonus if you include additional reports like UNDRIP, or regional documents too
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Select at least one Call to Action (TRC) and one Call for Justice (MMIWG)
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Write them down and put them somewhere that you will see them everyday
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we have to face this every day, join us in our pain so we can celebrate our victories and our healing together
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Take action at every available opportunity yourself
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Encourage your family, friends, co-workers, workplaces and communities to do the same
Team ReconciliAction couldn't agree more that these reports (even just the summaries) are so important for Canadians to read. Plus, with 94 Calls to Action and 231 Calls for Justice, there is surely a Call that can speak to everyone on an individual level.
You can read the full Action & Justice Everyday post here:
https://www.michaelredheadchampagne.com/blog/action-justice-everyday
The MMIWG Report and Calls for Justice can be found here:
https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/
The TRC Summary and Calls to Action can be found here:
Let us know which Call to Action or Call for Justice you plan to work on every day in the comments below!
Until next time,
Team ReconciliAction
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