Photo: Amos Scott
Photo: Amos Scott
When is a job really over?
We, as Commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), have repeatedly said over the past six years that the completion of the TRC mandate will be just the beginning of reconciliation, after 130 years of imposed, church-run, residential schools. So much work is needed to repair the self-imposed damages to our country; to Indigenous peoples, families, and communities; and to our founding relationships.
We offer a road map for that continuing work in our ninety-four Calls to Action, based on an unprecedented depth of public consultation. Seven thousand people spoke up from every region of the country. That has been the heart of our work … giving voice to those never before heard or believed. Former students, Survivors, bared their souls in remembering what so many had spent lifetimes trying to forget. In doing so, they created a public responsibility to now remember what happened in Canada in the name of education: decades of children feeling alone, silenced, too often hungry, cold, sick, afraid, abused, ashamed, angry; little ones feeling forsaken, abandoned, unloved; thousands who did not survive; the anguish of parents left behind.
Such courageous voices unveil shame on the presumptions of superiority, transplanted government, and superimposed religion of my ancestors. Yet, resilient voices have also lifted up, proclaiming the right to be happy; reclaiming personal names over numbers; battling addictions and learning self-care; receiving, as failed parents, the gift of first-time words from their child: ‘I love you, and I forgive you.’ Spiritual ceremonies formerly outlawed by Canada have been welcoming to all, with an offering that there is no wrong way to pray. Prominent Canadians from all sectors have pledged themselves to ongoing reconciliation as TRC Honorary Witnesses.
We can never ‘un-know’ what has been revealed. Canadian laws created residential schools. It belongs to all, including newcomers, to do something about the better-understood consequences today. I hope what we have learned will be widely heard, respectfully taught, and perpetually commemorated, lest we forget. I hope that patience, compassion, and skilled care will support those still in the midst of gut-wrenching healing journeys; that school-threatened languages revive; and that Indigenous and publicly elected leaders begin to meet regularly in normalized spaces for collaborative decision making, respecting sacred covenants and binding Treaties. I hope that we acknowledge the real ‘Two Solitudes’ of Canada today—the Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples—and devote ourselves to closing the glaring educational, economic, and socio-political gaps between them. May Canada be enriched in national wisdom and international reputation by the rebalancing of a shared country. And may we come to be known as a country that learns from past failings; that feels outrage at present injustices; that acts for what is still possible; and that believes in the power of truth and reconciliation to transform everything: a life, a relationship, a country.
It is a sacred job, barely begun.
With infinite love to Stephen, Kyla, Daylyn, Keenan, Maslyn, Tydzeh, Sadeya, and Ry’den. This work is for you and all the children of Canada.
Dr. Marie Wilson
COMMISSIONER