British soldiers stand behind barbed wire in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1970. Critics of the new law say it will not aid reconciliation and risks deepening divisions.
(AP Photo)
Opponents of the U.K. government’s Northern Ireland Troubles Act argue it violates the Good Friday Agreement by denying victims their right to justice.
The Saskatchewan Legislative Building in Regina. Indigenous leaders have criticized the province’s updated consultation framework saying it excludes Indigenous nations.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor
Saskatchewan’s provincial government must work with Indigenous nations on a shared vision for the future that is more likely to withstand the tests of time and litigation.
The Blue Quills Indian Residential School in St. Paul, Alta., Aug. 15, 1931. When the federal government announced plans to shutter the school in 1970, the community fought back, and Blue Quills became the first residence and school controlled by First Nations people in Canada.
(Provincial Archives of Alberta)
To honour Truth and Reconciliation Day, we spoke with Terri Cardinal, who headed up one of the many community searches for the children who went missing while attending an Indian Residential School.
Labrador Tea is one of the boreal plants that are classified as pests or weeds. The plant is important to Indigenous communities for its healing properties.
(J. Baker)
Some boreal plant species are classified — and treated — as weeds, affecting Indigenous communities’ access to important cultural, medicinal and ceremonial resources.
I Write Into the Yawning Void is Magona’s new book, released in the year she turns 80. Björn Rudner.
Björn Rudman
From domestic worker to matriarch of South African literature, the book is a reflection on her writing journey.
Language is so important, says prof. Frank Deer. Generational knowledge of culture is passed through stories, language, and symbols. Here two young women wearing ribbon skirts arrive for 2022 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ceremonies in Calgary, Alta.
(CP/Jeff McIntosh)
Vinita Srivastava, The Conversation and Boké Saisi, The Conversation
The revitalization of Indigenous languages is essential because language reflects philosophies that guide social, political, cultural and ecological relationships.
For many non-engineers, iron rings worn by Canadian engineers have been shrouded in mystery.
(Shutterstock)
Engineers say the current ‘iron ring’ ritual is steeped in colonial worldviews and excludes the public from understanding engineers’ ethical obligations.
Indigenous spiritual activities have become more common in Canadian public schools in recent years.
(Shutterstock)
Spirituality is a vital part of Indigenous identities. Incorporating spiritual education can create space in schools where Indigenous students can learn and grow.
A protestor holds a sign saying ‘Reparation for Reconciliation’ as Pope Francis arrives for a public event in Iqaluit, Nunavut on July 29, 2022, during his papal visit across Canada.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
The Pope’s apology could mark a new way forward if the Catholic Church makes genuine reparations for the evils it perpetrated.
Pope Francis arrives to a hero’s welcome at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on July 26, 2022, to take part in a public mass.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Apologizing for people versus the establishment that upheld not only the Indian Residential Schools system but protected – and continues to protect — the people who committed the crimes is horrifying.
Pope Francis receives a traditional headdress after apologizing near the site of the former Ermineskin Residential School, in Maskwacis, Alta.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Whether this apology has truly advanced the goal of healing may become evident only in years and decades to come.
A bus blocks Argyle Street South in Caledonia, Ont., as a group of labour councils and unions delivered food and support to land defenders at a land reclamation camp known as 1492 Land Back Lane in October 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Carlos Osorio
Settler Canadians have a responsibility to build respectful, reciprocal relationships with Indigenous nations on our shared geographic space. This relationship starts with land restitution.
Antjie Krog from a detail of the cover for the book ‘n Vry vrou (a free woman).
Human & Rousseau
Secret burials are the stuff of gothic fiction, but these gothic events actually happened to Indigenous children.
Mary Simon is an Inuk leader and former Canadian diplomat. She has been named as Canada’s next governor general — the first Indigenous person to serve in the role.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Being Canada’s next governor general will be Mary Simon’s most challenging diplomatic mission yet.
An upside down maple leaf is tucked behind a plaque as people gather on Parliament Hill in Ottawa at a rally to honour the lives lost to residential schools and demand justice for Indigenous peoples, on Canada Day, July 1, 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Considering our relationships to stories about the past and looking at learning as a process of encounter can help Canadians to become better treaty partners.
Activists mark National Reparations Day in Washington, D.C., on July 1, 2019.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
As the US debates reparations for descendants of slavery, cases in Africa help illustrate the limits of programs focused solely in financial restitution.
Students of the Metlakatla Indian Residential School, B.C.
(William James Topley. Library and Archives Canada, C-015037)
The destruction of IAP residential school records and media reports that continually emphasize compensation will ensure that if remembered, the process will be remembered through a colonial gaze.
By identifying the need to tackle systemic discrimination instead of colonialism, Trudeau is reinforcing an established idea in Canadian politics: that colonialism is history.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick