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Circles for Reconciliation (CFR) is honouring the first "National Day for Truth and Reconciliation" as a non-profit organization as a Statutory Holiday under Bill C-5 that achieved Royal Assent on June 3rd, 2021. The Act creates a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a statutory holiday that will commemorate the victims and survivors of the Indian Residential Schools and will be observed on September 30th moving forward. CFR recognizes September 30th as a mourning day to honour the sacred ones and survivors of the Indian Residential Schools and we encourage organizations and others to do the same.

Guided Tour of Residential School offered by a Survivor for Winnipeg Participants

Circles for Reconciliation will take 35 participants to Portage La Prairie to take a guided tour of the Residential School which is now a national historical site. The tour will be offered by a Survivor. Following the tour we will take part in Indigenous commemorative events offered at Southport, just outside of Portage la Prairie.

CBC Radio Interview with Toronto Participants

Ismaila Alfa, the host of Metro Morning, CBC Radio's local morning program in Toronto, met with four of our circle participants to talk about Reconciliation. Fittingly seated amongst such sacred medicines as tobacco and sweetgrass in Eglinton Park Community Garden, two Indigenous and two non-Indigenous people talked about what Reconciliation means to each of them as they shared reflections on the value of their experiences as participants of Circles for Reconciliation.

The show will air as two segments on September 30 and October 1 st during the morning show after 7:00am EST.

Be sure to listen!

Links for recorded segments:
September 30, 2021
September 29 Zoom Event with Reconciliation Thunder
Taking Action - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Over the course of the #94in94 campaign we have been sharing one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action each day for every day leading up to the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Over the course of this campaign we have seen an average of 300 shares each day totaling over 28,200. Together we've pointed thousands of people back to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation as a framework for dialogue and action at a critical time for our nation. Thank you for your support!

The event was a time to reflect on the work we've done together and the new commitments that have been and will be formed as a result of our campaign. We discussed more about our #94in94 challenge and listened to Kaila Johnston from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation answering your questions about translating these calls into action.

2021 Annual Newsletter

We are pleased to offer you the eighth edition of our newsletter. Thanks to the generosity of our large cohort of volunteers, supported by our generous funders, we can report that Circles for Reconciliation is expanding far more rapidly across Canada than we had anticipated. We hope you will continue to join us on this journey of reconciliation.

2021 Newsletter Circles for Reconciliation

#94in94

In response to the recent discoveries in Kamloops and Brandon, Reconciliation Thunder and Circles for Reconciliation have launched an awareness campaign to help center conversations on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action. For each of the 94 days before Orange Shirt Day (September 30, 2021) each of the 94 Calls to Action will be shared on social media in hopes that one day every Canadian will have read the TRC Report and have chosen at least one to act on.

More information is on our Get Involved tab. Follow us - each call will be posted to all our social streams every day!

Register today!

Take the first step on your journey to Reconciliation by joining Circles. No cost to participants.

Audio produced by NCI-FM Radio in Manitoba
We are now passing the Talking Stick virtually...

Reconciliation cannot be put on hold! Zoom Circles are being held.

"I am a Wakka Wakka person living in Bundjalung Country on the east coast of Australia. The image for me is about women's healing and the different shades of our skin since the coloni z ation and introduction of genocide and that no matter what we lo ok like we still have a place in the circle. The leaves we use when we dance to prepare an area for ceremony by cleansing".

Belle Arnold

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Circles For Reconciliation - Reconciliation in Canada

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Circles for Reconciliation (CFR) is honouring the first "National Day for Truth and Reconciliation" as a non-profit organization as a Statutory Holiday under Bill C-5 that achieved Royal Assent on June 3rd, 2021. The Act creates a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a statutory holiday that will commemorate the victims and survivors of the Indian Residential Schools and will be observed on September 30th moving forward.

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Skip to Main Content

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Activism Opportunites

Image by Peg Hunter - Divest Wells Fargo - Native People Not For Sale - CC BY-NC 2.0

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Research guides: Indigenous Book Club & Discover Indigenous Authors: Action/Activism Links and Discussion

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This guide is a resource to support the University of Toronto Tri-Campus Indigenous Book Club. It brings together multi-media resources and works created by Indigenous authors and artists. Learn more about various ways you can help with these links to various organizations.

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Truth and Reconciliation in Canada

In March 2018, CBC News launched Beyond 94, a website that monitors progress on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action.

Beyond 94 was the result of a year's worth of research and interviews with survivors, stakeholders and all levels of government.

While the content is continually updated, in September 2021, CBC reviewed the progress status of each of the 94 calls to action.

The site provides up-to-date status reports on each call to action, as well as extensive summaries explaining those status reports. It includes in-depth features and short video documentaries that tell some of the community stories behind the calls to action. It also features residential school survivors sharing their experiences.

The first residential schools opened in Canada in the 1800s. They were the product of churches and the government; a collective, calculated effort to eradicate Indigenous language and culture that the commission called a policy of cultural genocide.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed as a means of reckoning with the devastating legacy of forced assimilation and abuse left by the residential school system. From 2008 to 2014, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard stories from thousands of residential school survivors. In June 2015, the commission released a report based on those hearings. From that came the 94 Calls to Action: individual instructions to guide governments, communities and faith groups down the road to reconciliation.

Beyond 94 will now monitor the progress of that journey.

To see the locations of known residential schools, you can visit this map created by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

In researching the progress of each Call to Action, CBC reached out to relevant governments, faith groups, professional and community organisations for comment. We fact-checked each response with invested stakeholders. We also cross-referenced federal funding announcements with actual and past financial expenditures. We also drew information from past and current CBC stories.

Beyond 94 measures the progress of the Calls to Action based on the following;

"Not started" refers to Calls to Action in which no action plan has been developed and/or no funds have been committed, to implement the Call to Action.

"In Progress - Projects proposed" refers to Calls to Action in which the relevant parties involved have either committed to an action plan or funding, but not yet followed through with it.

"In Progress - Projects underway" refers to Calls to Action in which the relevant parties involved are actively working towards implementing that call, with both a timeline and (where needed) the funding to make it happen.

"Complete" refers to Calls to Action which have been fully implemented.

Beyond 94 was a full year in the making and involved CBC journalists across the country.

The site provides up-to-date status reports on each call to action, as well as extensive summaries explaining those status reports. It includes in-depth features and short video documentaries that tell some of the community stories behind the calls to action. It also features residential school survivors sharing their experiences.

We'd like to acknowledge and thank all of the people who generously shared their stories with us through this project and those who continue to share their stories so that we can hear the truth and understand how to move forward together.

Credits:

Jorge Barrera, Teghan Beaudette, Chantelle Bellrichard, Alex Brockman, Meagan Deuling, Kelly Malone, Nic Meloney, Brandi Morin, Lenard Monkman, Kieran Oudshoorn, Jason Warick, Bridget Yard

Additional credits: Stephanie Brown - Senior Producer, Tamara Baluja - Social Media Producer, Donna Carreiro - Producer / Researcher, Earl Cabuhat - Senior Designer, Stephanie Cram, Associate Producer, Jennifer Geens - Copy Editor, Arnold Hedstrom - Senior Producer, David Hutton - Managing Editor, Darcy Hunter - Sr. Graphics Producer, Tyson Koschik - Camera, Bertram Schneider - Executive Producer, Marilyn Robak - Senior Producer, Hannah Wise - Manager, Interactives, Karin Yeske - Senior Producer, Chanss Lagaden - Camera

To submit a comment or question please contact indigenous@cbc.ca

Web development:

Jessica Willms, Elizabeth Melito, Mike Evans, and Dwight Friesen

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Beyond 94: Truth and Reconciliation in Canada

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In March 2018, CBC News launched Beyond 94, a website that monitors progress on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action. Beyond 94 was the result of a year's worth of research and interviews with survivors, stakeholders and all levels of government.

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#1. What does reconciliation mean to you?

What does reconciliation look like in the classroom/ workplace?

How will you make reconciliation part of your day to day life?

How can we move forward in a postive way to build a new relationship, between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, and hold each other up?

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How will you make reconciliation part of your day-to-day life?

Chief Joseph often speaks to the need for all of us to create a Back Pocket Reconciliation Action Plan to always carry with us. A Back Pocket Reconciliation Action Plan is a starting point for individuals to think about how to make reconciliation part of their lives. It is designed to be:

Portable - Carry your Back Pocket Reconciliation Action Plan with you. Refer to it often.

Shareable - Spread the word! Let the world know how you're delivering change. Take a photo of your Back Pocket Reconciliation Action Plan to share on social media. Use the hashtag #namwayut.

The Back Pocket Reconciliation Action Plan is part of Reconciliation Canada's national engagement strategy to build a national narrative on reconciliation and catalyze action. We have initiatives planned across the country through 2016-2017, which are intended to engage individuals, groups and organizations in the reconciliation process. Your Back Pocket Reconciliation Action Plan will contribute to the national narrative on reconciliation by illustrating the ways that Canadians are taking action. By sharing your Back Pocket Reconciliation Action Plan, you are inspiring others to think about reconciliation and to create their own plans.

Click here to download the Back Pocket Reconciliation Action Plan.

Create your own Back Pocket Reconciliation Action Plan:

1. Download.

2. Fill in your Action Plan.

3. Share over social media.

4. Carry your plan with you everywhere you go. Use it as a conversation starter.

5. Take action on implementing your plan!

This initiative was made possible through the generous support of:

Reconciliation in Action: A National Engagement Strategy,
a Canada 150 Signature Project, is funded in part by the Government of Canada

Réconciliation en action : une stratégie d'engagement nationale
est un projet de premier plan de Canada 150. Ce projet est financé en partie par le gouvernement du Canada.

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How will you make reconciliation part of your day-to-day life? Chief Joseph often speaks to the need for all of us to create a Back Pocket Reconciliation Action Plan to always carry with us. A Back Pocket Reconciliation Action Plan is a starting point for individuals to think about how to make reconciliation part [...]

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1. As a group review the list of actions
2. Brainstorm how you can act on these calls to action on campus
3. Write down your top 4 actions and how as a community we can achieve this goal. (educational context).
4. Decide on a date for this goal to be achieved
5. Discuss how you can apply it in your current roles on campus

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What is reconciliation? Indigenous educators have their say

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Dive deeper in your learning with the free course

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Dive deeper in your learning with the free course

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To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

This Course Video Transcript

Intended for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal learners, this course will explore indigenous ways of knowing and how they can benefit all students. Topics include historical, social, and political issues in Aboriginal education; terminology; cultural, spiritual and philosophical themes in Aboriginal worldviews; and how Aboriginal worldviews can inform professional programs and practices, including but not limited to the field of education.

View Syllabus

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8th Fire: Aboriginal Peoples, Canada & the Way Forward

This television series aired on Canada's CBC in 2013. Short clips used in the course created a demand from students for more and to see the clips in their original context. We received permission to show the series here.

Taught By

[music]. Hi, I'm Wab Kinew. I'm Anishinaabe from the Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation in Ontario. Welcome to 8th Fire. The name of this series comes from an Aboriginal prophecy that says that now is the time for your people and my people to come together and build a new fire of peace and friendship. But let's face it, one of the biggest issues that stands between us is land. It used to be all ours and now, not so much, but you know what, I'm not mad. In fact, in this episode, you're going to meet a whole lot of people who are thinking creatively and working hard to come up with solutions to the toughest problems that keep your people and my people from getting along. [music]. >> This is my land. This is my homeland. It's indigenous land. [music]. >> The pride of having your own territory is huge. [music]. >> Our culture is based on life on the land. [music]. >> This is my territory as a place of survival of who we are. A place of survival of our culture and language. >> Most of this desert back here is 1000 acres. We could make millions off of it easily, but we're just going to leave it the way it is. We'll take a chunk of our land, do some good economic development to look after everything else, and leave the rest of the land the way it is. >> This land is your land. This land is my land. Or as my people say, [foreign]. This country is big, space enough for everyone. Why then is land at the heart of every battle between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals. Just down the river from here there's a swath of land that cuts through Ontario's heartland, full of cities, farm, and industry. But every kid on the Six Nations Reserve knows it as the Haldimand proclamation, 950,000 acres given to their ancestors for helping the British win the war against the Americans. But as my Mom told me, never mess with a Mohawk. They're still stubbornly fighting to get fair compensation for that deal. It's all part of an equation that's uncomfortable to calculate. Canada's land gains have been the losses of the First peoples, but, hard as it seems, there are ways of working it out. [music]. >> The best relationships between native people and non-native people are business relationships. That's the best, because it's based on work, it's based on production, it's based on sharing. We have more band-owned businesses on a per capita basis in any First Nation in Canada or tribe in the US. Not what I'm really proud of, is a fact that most people work for a living. >> The Osoyoos call this valley home. It's the Okanagan in British Columbia. Now a magnet for tourists drawn by the scenery, the gulf, and the grapes. On the 320 square kilometers that make up their reserve, the Osoyoos have reached out to those tourists. [music]. >> They've developed a vineyard, a golf course, and a five-star hotel complex on their land. The result, a mini economic boom. >> We've been able to create jobs, decent paying jobs, and we have to create more. [music]. Nk'mip Cellars is one of the band's biggest success stories. The vineyard is a partnership between the Osoyoos and Vine Corp Canada, the countries biggest wine producer. >> [inaudible] taste this wine against the ... >> Several young people from the reserve work here. >> Another year in that barrel it'll be awesome. >> I needed a job in the winter time and I went to our chief, spoke with him, and he said, give it a try, it's a good opportunity. [music]. And I came here, and I knew immediately that winemaking was for me. Good fruit characters. Good integration. >> Real, really mouth-filling with regard to the tannin contribution, and really integrated aromatically. >> Mm. Very, very good tannins. I agree. >> I would love to be the winemaker here and Randy's been teaching me the skills. And looking forward to the future of having an OC senior band member running the winery. >> You know the band is they understand what it takes to survive in the 21st century from an economic standpoint and they're very forward in their thinking. They understand where they have limitations, and that's one of the reasons why I think this winery has become, is a, is a joint venture. [music]. >> So this is the reserve on the right-hand side, it cuts across a highway here. >> Clarence, Louie, and his band are proud of what they've achieved, especially, given where they started. [music] ... >> Even though, we got what I would say a decent reserve, we still lost our best lands. We lost over 4000 acres of our best land. [music]. Land claims, there's a big issue with every First Nation and there's a lot of historical grievances that still have to be looked after. And if it wasn't for us losing our best land, we, we probably wouldn't have grown up in, in poverty. >> There's no political will to deal with Aboriginal land claims. As it is not popular and it is costly. >> Let's get one thing straight. The first peoples of Canada have never been conquered. We negotiated in good faith and thought that the Crown was doing the same thing, but they had a different approach. >> Case in point, the Toronto purchase. >> The British negotiators were tough and experienced. In 1805, they sealed a deal with the Mississaugas for 250,000 acres along the shores of Lake Ontario. That's the land on which Toronto now sits. >> The price paid, 10 shillings, that's only 60 bucks in today's money. Here in the big smoke, that's not even enough for a night on the town. [music] ... >> I'm sure the James Bay Cree, because of their, their land claim, because forcing the Quebec government and the federal government to the table. And now that they got a billion dollar land claim, they've developed a relationship, relationships that they would never have developed before. [music] They're hanging around people in government and in business that they would never have hung around with, with before. [music]. >> Clarence Louie is talking about the James Bay Agreement in Northern Quebec. [music]. This was a David and Goliath confrontation. And the Crees of James Bay stunned a modern day giant. >> They do not want the James Bay project. >> The government was forced to recognize the right of native people, not just to their land, but to the development of their land. >> [foreign]. [foreign]. [foreign]. [music]. The agreement signed in 1975 wasn't just a Canadian first, it was a world first. It covers 1 million square kilometers in Northern Quebec. That's almost 2 3rds of the province. The Crees gave up part of their ancestral lands to the Quebec government to allow the construction of hydro dams. [music]. What they got in return was jobs, the control of their schools, and health services and money, $169 million. [music]. With that bank roll, they went into business for themselves. >> When you look at other Aboriginal people, even around the world, you know, I think the Cree Nation has evolved to a point that we can really say that we, we are a great nation. [music]. We have an airline. We have a construction company that's among the four largest construction companies in Quebec. We, we have all kinds of things. >> [foreign], [foreign]. [music]. [music]. >> We're standing on the east coast of Hudson Bay. We're by the 55th parallel of latitude. North of that there's, there's no development. There's no dams, there's no roads. It's a, no a, any, any kind of measured industry. Today, it's, it's still like it was 50 years ago. [music]. Maybe 200 miles from here you start to see development, you know, there's dams, there's dikes there's reservoirs. There are hydroelectric installations. There are airports. There's a highway. And, and further south you go, of course, you know, you get to see these and all that [music]. [music]. >> Hi. >> [foreign]. >> I bought some two and three inch, three quarters [laugh]. >> It took 36 years to implement the James Bay in Northern Quebec. We had to go to court, we had to bring Canada to court. We had to bring Quebec to court. You know, that attitude was not changing until they wanted to dam our river here and we in, in the late 80s. >> [foreign] >> In 1989, new tension, the Quebec government announced it was going to divert and dam another river, the Great Whale Whapmagoostui. [music]. [inaudible] go back, you only have 4 minutes to leave the communities, 4 minutes. >> The Crees were implacably opposed to sacrificing another river to the Gods of electricity. >> [foreign]. >> Their answer was an international campaign that took them all the way to New York City. Matthew Mukash was the leader in that battle. >> On Earth Day, when we arrived at Battery Park there were 24 major American television crews pointing at the canoe. We're all over the news, we even make the news in, in Europe, you know? So that was the success of the campaign and we actually killed a $17 billion contract. [music] The people here said, no, thank you to Hydro, and they managed to put together a campaign and protect it and defended that river. Because I'd seen the success of it, I think because my, my father is the one that spearheaded all that it's kind of ingrained in me that I would have to be ready to fight for it for my generation. [music]. The James Bay Agreement dealt with some problems, but not all. [music]. The benefits that we're talking about are the basic rights of every Canadian and Quebec citizen. If looking at what the Cree people have to give up just to get an education system and, a health system and so on. And they're not, they're almost sub part. The basic rights that we've had, we've had to give up rivers, and identity, and culture, and everything else. [music] Pakesso Mukash is with the group Ceremony. >> All of our generation that is passing away. >> How the heck did we get that other guitar in there? >> [music] Our legends and traditional ways are threatened [unknown] with the modern day. What will we then become? Have we lost touch with our youth? When the last of our great rivers, meets a fatal [inaudible]. And tress that once spoke are silenced once and for all. And the spirits that led us here, they are witness through our great fall. How will we define ourselves to our children and our grandchildren? If our legends [inaudible]. With Matthew Iserhoff, he composes and sings songs of land and pride. Cree land, Cree pride. They've watched their nation develop, but they also see the social problems that remain. >> [foreign]. >> Diabetes is still way up, you know. Cocaine uses, through the roof, and the only thing people have are nicer trucks. [music]. [foreign]. >> Imagine always having to fight to speak your own language, to hold on to your culture, to hold on to your very identity. And imagine the searing pain of having you, your parents, your grandparents taken away from your families and plunged into the horrors of residential schools. It leaves deep wounds and time is needed to heal those wounds. At least with the money, the Crees of James Bay were able to build an infrastructure to protect their community and its identity. So it seems that there's the hope of recovery there. But some communities got far less, the Inuit Nation didn't want to give up its rights, so they refused to negotiate with Hydro-Quebec. The result, no money, and no rights. [music]. >> I come from a small town called Schefferville. It's a mining town, that's what it was. And it is still a mining town. [music] ... >> Armand MacKenzie's community lives on land within the boundaries of the James Bay Agreement. >> When the James Bay Project was announced, I was probably 10 or 12 years old. And there were a lot of discussions in the kitchen, with my uncle, who was chief back then, and with, along with my father. >> But unlike the Cree, the Inuit of Schefferville were frozen out of the agreement. This deep injustice, as they see it has left a bitter taste in their mouths. >> The Inuit of Schefferville [inaudible] received no royalties, no money, no special powers, no environmental powers, or specific regime, or political institutions, or self-government, nothing. We only received the prejudice. [music]. >> There is more, their dealings with mining companies have been painful and unequal and knows wounds scare not just their minds, but also the countryside. >> All the transnational corporations companies, shareholders, they make a lot of profit. A lot of money with, with our natural resources, basically, and it took away all of our wealth and they produced all kind of material. And when they left the community and late in the early 80s, the huge mining pits were still there and they are still there today. [music]. The James Bay example may seem to herald the beginning of a more equal relationship between First Nation people and the government. But the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation in northern Manitoba have another harsher story to tell. The Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation were among the first to sign a historical agreement with the Crown, Treaty Number 5. >> In 1976, Manitoba Hydro diverts the Churchill River as one of the steps in the construction of a dam. The hunting and fishing land of the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation was flooded and part of their way of life was destroyed. There was no consultation, no deal, no compensation, nothing. [music]. Some may have believed that the James Bay agreement was a turning point in the relationship between Canada and the native people, but Manitoba Hydro trampled that belief underfoot. >> When the water first came up in 76 and there was a lot of angry people, because we're never prepared for that, they, we knew it was coming but we were never prepared. We, we didn't realize the extent of damage. [music] [foreign]. As a young person in the 70s I was, Hydro wasn't my favorite issue, right? And I think at the end of the day, when I got elected as leader, I had to change my perspective, right? [music]. >> Several years later, compensation finally came from the federal government, the province, and Manitoba Hydros. With the money came a promise. The Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation would be consulted on any future project. That future is called Wasquatum, a 200 megawatt Hydro dam, 35 kilometers from the reserve. >> Hydro came out and basically said, hey listen, we'll never be able to repay, the damages, so what about this opportunity? [music]. >> The deal was tempting. But the negotiations were far harder than expected. >> We weren't really prepared. And, although, that we had the negotiation process happen for about eight and a half years, we, we just weren't prepared for that. [music]. They're tough, right? You know, they have they have the resources. They have all the capacity speed through, through the process. And here we are, you know, like we're just a bunch of reserve kids that thrown into the stable, right? >> I devoted my life negotiating with Corporate Canada governments. Dealing with either, it's always going back to school. It's Aboriginal 101 and it's tiring. You get wary of it. You have to be tough, you have to be healthy you have to consider the community, and sometimes you negotiate under duress. >> Finally, in 2006, the community agreed to a partnership with Manitoba Hydro. But the price tag was enormous. The band must invest $84 million of its own money to buy into a 1 3rd share of the project. A lot of money for a reserve of 4500 people. >> Our community, right now it probably 400 homes, short right? How do you deal with the current immediate issues, right? When they are trying to put some money aside for this future project. >> There have been slip-ups and ambushes at the negotiation table, but the leaders of the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation think that Wasquatum will bring new life into the reserve. [music]. >> This is once in a lifetime opportunity, this Wasquatum project, and so we're going to take it from there as a resilient people, we've had harder times in other things and this is nothing. It's fun. [music]. >> It's their community is still in a sort of rural conditions. [music]. >> And when we have a mine at the back, it shouldn't be like that. >> The mine in question is a diamond mine, it's name is Victor and it's owner is De Beers, the biggest diamond company in the world. The mine is in the middle of the ancestral lands of the Cree of Attawapiskat. Their reserve is in Northern Ontario next to James Bay. [foreign]. [music]. [foreign]. >> They've been there for thousands of years , and here, one of the largest, if not the largest diamond companies in the world arrived and develop and all they get is, is peanuts from that development. [music]. We need to establish a new framework, when these situations come about. You know, if the news is going to install a diamond mine right next to one of the poorest communities, not only in the country, but in the world, they should be forced and obliged to do something about it. >> We're not responsible for, you know, infrastructure and education and building schools and, and things like that. It's not, in Canada, we've got a fairly stable democracy. We've got good economic performance in general. So there's a government that is, you know, tasked to do that. >> The Attawapiskat community negotiated with De Beers, the largest diamond consortium in the world, sat down with a small band of 2,000 people. In 2005, both sides agreed to an IBA, an Impact Benefits Agreement. Stripped of the legal jargon, the company agreed to pay the native band compensation for the right to mine on their land. In this case, the company said it would pay the band $2 million dollars a year and that amount would go up if the mine made a profit. We were three years negotiating that IBA, and we did not, we did not go forward with full construction, until we had the ratification of the community. >> > It was a big mystery with this IBA and yeah, a lot of people, saying it without the knowledge of really, what's, what was in their, so it's not a good package right now. >> Our understanding and our belief is that it's a, it's a very fair and, and generous IBA. And we've seen other communities take a great interest in learning what's in the Attawapiskat IBA as they pursue other mining operations in other part of Canada. [music]. >> Well, IBAs are good. Okay. If they're acceptable to Aboriginal communities and negotiated freely. I think they're okay, but they only respond to a certain need, very minimal need that are in the communities. >> One deal, two diametrically opposed visions on how it should work. [music] And that disagreement creates friction between the band and the company. Here is an example of the bands' frustration. >> This is the banner and we're holding it [inaudible]. >> And there are provisions in the Impact Benefit Agreement for jobs and giving the first opportunity to Attawapiskat members. [music]. But the gap between where people are now and where they need to be is considerable. There's no plan in place on how we're going to get Attawapiskat members from there, here to there. You know, the people in Attawapiskat are skilled, they know what to do they're smart. It's just taking those smarts, getting you know, a grade 12 equivalency or, level and then we can move on. But if you don't get that minimum grade, you're stuck. [music]. >> But how do you convince young people to finish school if there are no schools, if there are no schools? >> The elementary school children of Attawapiskat go to class in prefabs. It's been that way for 10 years and it's the same on several other reserves. [music]. >> It's quite a very a safety issue and a health issue, especially in the in, in the winter time, when the draft is so harsh that the, you know, it's really cold inside most days. [music]. >> I have two communities without schools. How can that be? How can it be that Attawapiskat has no school for their children? Kashechewan has no school for their children? All across the northern territories children are in, are, are in unsafe conditions, substandard conditions, children lose hope in grade 4 and grade 5. It's a, a national, it's an international scandal. >> Peaceful education. >> A few years ago, a group of young people from Attawapiskat decided to fight to get a new school. >> My Name is Shannen Koostachin. I am from the Attawapiskat First Nation. >> They turned to the Internet, Canadians rallied to their cause. >> Three years ago my sister, Shannen Koostachin, here on this spot pleaded for a new school for our community. But I ask, why do I have to come back and do the same thing once again that our own government cannot keep a promise that they have made three times? >> The face and voice of this fight was that of Shannen Koostachin. For her, it was a fight for justice. But on June 1st, 2010, Shannen was killed in a car accident. Her family and friends decided to carry on her fight. >> It just feels so proud to have had a child that had a vision and truly believe in something that she stood for. For our daughter started something unique. She started the first and biggest youth movement, children's right movement in Canada, and that tells a lot, like how one kid with a dream can move a nation? >> So we invite all politicians, First Nation leaders, students, and educators across Canada to make Shannen's dream a reality because no child should ever have to beg or fight for an education in this country. >> Federal MP, Charlie Angus became a friend and supporter of Shannen. He continues to fight for her cause. >> Shannen is a national symbol. She's a hero of hope for young people. She has touched people in a way that I haven't seen other people being able to do. We need heroes in our communities. We have communities where kids are giving up hope and killing themselves, one after the other. We have to be able to say there's another way, and Shanne for so many native and non-native students, she's become a national symbol of hope. [music]. >> She was put here for that purpose to provide that message to the young people to never give up, because, she, she knew that she had to struggle through school. She struggled in school, but she never gave up. So I got her some sea shells. These ones are from up north. Those shells, she loved those. >> A part of Shannen's dream will soon become reality. The Department of Aboriginal Affairs has announced that Attawapiskat will get a new primary school in 2013. [music]. >> Canadians wouldn't believe what these kids live through. They wouldn't believe it. It's not just that they have a school on a toxic site. If you saw their homes, if you saw the living conditions in some of these communities, it, it is indescribable. This is not Canada. This not second world, this is not third world. It is a fourth world. [music]. >> We have three jet service flights that come up from Ottawa and Montreal a day. We're the 20th busiest airport in the country. [music]. This is a multicultural city we have people in Iqaluit that come from, not only all over, from different parts of Nunavut, but also from other parts of the Arctic other parts of Canada and other parts of the world. >> The first time I got off the plane and I charged aground here and I, you know, I took you know, a breath of I just felt home. You know, I said, this is where I want to be. [music]. Stephane Cloutier is from Quebec. He has lived in Nunavut for 17 years. His wife Gila is Inuit, they have four children. He loves his new home, but he hasn't quite picked up all of its traditions. [music]. >> This is a county food market where people come and sell their meat. And we came here a little too late I guess, everything was gone except for caribou head and two legs that we got. [music]. My husband doesn't hunt, so I have to come here, to things like this, to get my meat. And I told him before, never find country food too expensive until you can go hunting and get it himself for me [laugh]. [music]. >> Nunavut is huge, almost 2 million square kilometers. That's 1 5th of Canada with just 30,000 people in that immense space. Its capital, Iqaluit, is a boomtown, a young boomtown. In 10 years, its population has doubled and 60% are under 25. It took the Inuit 25 years of struggle and long, tough negotiations with the federal government to win the right to run this land. [music]. >> And with this government, they would at last be able to make decisions that have an impact on their lives and not let someone else from south to make those decisions for them. [music]. ... >> For the Inuit, April 1st, 1999 was and remains a day of celebration. A day which brought dignitaries and journalists from around the world to witness the birth of the First Inuit Constitutional territory. Nunavut changed the map of Canada, both geographically and linguistically. The Aboriginal language, Inuktitut, was for the first time recognized as an official language. [foreign]. >> Working on teaching my children to speak more Inuktitut. I would like to believe that they'll grow up having learned Inuktitut and be able to work in Inuktitut. [music]. >> Nunavut has prizes to offer, natural resources and many seek them. Mining exploration is big business in this territory. Deposits of gold, of iron, of diamonds, and uranium have all been found, and that's just the start. >> [foreign]. [music] [foreign]. >> I feel comfortable with our mother nature. It's, it's so peaceful, after a hard day's of work in the office when you get to go out in the tundra like this and see the landscape and the fresh air. [music]. >> We need, really need the mining sector to help out in this region. Most of the, what we have is people relying on the government, in their government and you really can't rely on the government itself, you, you need to have the private sector help out. >> You want anything else? There's more. [music]. >> We have to take into consideration in the long-term we need to get jobs for our younger generations. We just can't rely on the wildlife to survive. >> In tough negotiations with Ottawa, the Inuit agreed to limit their control to 18% of the territory, that means, the federal government has the final word on 82% of the land. In comparison, the provinces control all of their land. >> I think what is important to keep in mind with the development of natural resources is to ensure that decisions are made up of development or not, made somewhere else outside of the territory. But that the people, to ensure the people [unknown] are involved in the development, that they participate in the decision making. [music]. >> You know, when it comes to sovereignty and, and the land of the Inuit we are sovereignty. We live here for a million year, and this is our home, and it will always be our home. So, whatever happens to our land and our environment, we need to have that control and recognition as well and we should always strive for that. [laugh]. >> Development is the dream for Aboriginal people, but reality is the Indian Act. Most First Nations are subject to it, which means they live on land held in reserve for them by the Crown. That applies to the Attawapiskat, to the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, and to the Osoyoos band. Whatever their will, whatever they plan, the Indian Act stands in the way. [music]. >> Most of the Indian Act is about is about land, it's about reserve land or as they call, it federal land. We don't call our reserve federal land. We call it our land. But yet, we have to go to the department any time we had, we want to do land development. And we have to, basically, have to ask them permission on what we can and can't do with our land. >> How do you make a bad situation better? For some, the answer is simple. Abolish the Indian Act. For others, the priority is to rethink the approach to property in these lands, and a leader of that group is Manny Jules. There are institutions that governments have created to facilitate good marketable lands. You have none of that on Indian reserve. [music]. You have a situation where somebody else can make the decision on your behalf, because they're the trustee and that has to change. And the only way it can change is by transferring the ownership of the, of those lands to the First Nation. >> To me, money equals opportunity, so that's why I love spending my time with business people like yourselves. We have business partners that work with us on developing a hotel or development of business in the reserve. They're just amazed that we don't have control of our own land. They teach winemaking, they teach horticulture. We're able to manage our own lands, we should be deciding what's best for us. I think whether it's Osoyoos or Squamish or Membertou or Tutchone are, there's so many other bands across this country that are proven that they know what's best for their people. >> What Aboriginal people want is a right to develop our communities according to our dreams and our aspirations. It's as simple as that. >> My dream for Attawapiskat is to better homes and better future for the youth. [music]. And we need to use the land, because if we don't use the land, we're going to lose it. [music]. >> This story I'd like to see my grandchildren, to be able to go out there and tell the world about our people, the land, and then come back here and be on the land, you know, that is untouched. [music] Well, that's how I'd like to see my grandchildren grow up is, is to be masters of both worlds, so to speak. >> Aboriginal Canadians want to be part of this society based on fundamental values, equality, justice, and respect for our status as Aboriginal group in this country, because we were here on this land. We won't move anywhere else? This is our land. This is our homeland. [music].

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8th Fire episode 3. Whose land is it anyway? - 8th Fire: Aboriginal Peoples, Canada & the Way Forward | Coursera

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Video created by University of Toronto for the course "Aboriginal Worldviews and Education". This television series aired on Canada's CBC in 2013. Short clips used in the course created a demand from students for more and to see the clips in ...

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What non-Indigenous Canadians need to know

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My challenge is for you to read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action and to share one of the calls that has significance for you. Whether you've read them before or not, take the time to read them now and think about how you can affect change in your own life to make this country stronger.

About This Challenge

In June of 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) released its final report detailing the history and ongoing legacy of the Indian Residential School system in Canada that operated until 1996. The TRC's final report shares over 6,000 Survivor and witness accounts of the system; it outlines the history of the system, its ongoing impacts on Indigenous Peoples today, and it calls attention to the challenge of Reconciliation in Canada moving forward.

One major aspect of the TRC's final report is the "94 Calls to Action." The 94 Calls to Action were laid out by the Commission in the Final Report and were meant to show the beginning of a roadmap to Reconciliation for Canada to follow. The 94 Calls to Action cover a variety of aspects of life in Canada - including business, education, health, youth, women, justice and more. Everyone in Canada can take action in some way to further the aims of the TRC. By reading, understanding, and responding to these 94 Calls to Action, Canada will move closer towards Reconciliation. Without addressing the fundamental and systemic issues identified in this report, we will never be able to find the Reconciliation we need to heal as a country.

Reading the calls to action is a small step; it's a step that we believe everyone can and should take. If you've read them before, read them again; Reconciliation is not a spectator sport - to make real change, we need everyone's participation and everyone's willingness to grow.

Why?

"Residential schools are a tragic part of Canada's history. But they cannot simply
be consigned to history." - Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future (TRC Final Report)

The last Residential School closed in Canada in 1996. The TRC released its Final Report in 2015. It's 2018 now and, if you're not Indigenous, maybe these events feel irrelevant to you, or maybe they simply feel like events that are important to the country overall, but don't really have anything to do with you personally, but in truth, everyone in Canada has benefited from or been hurt by the Indian Residential School system. It is part of the larger systems of oppression that have existed on this continent since Contact. If you are Indigenous, maybe you feel unable or unqualified to take action on behalf of your Communities, or maybe you feel that there's nothing you can do that will make a difference to the country overall. While there's nothing we can do to undo the hurt and the crimes that have been committed against Indigenous Peoples and individuals in service of this system, we can work to find ways to walk together towards Reconciliation and healing now.

Everyone in Canada has a responsibility to read, understand, and take up the TRC's 94 Calls to Action - only by taking these Calls seriously and finding ways to act on them can we move towards Reconciliation in a meaningful way. While many of the Calls to Action specifically call upon groups, governments or organizations to act, there are so many ways that we as individuals, employees, students, parents, business owners or activists to make change within our own lives and communities. Through small but courageous acts, we can bridge divides and bring our communities together with a common focus.

To begin, click "accept challenge" below!

ADDITIONAL LEARNING

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Reports

Reading the Report

Since the Final Report

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For my #Next150 challenge, I am challenging you to read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's #94CallsToAction and to share one of the calls that has significance for you. Whether you've read them before or not, take the time to read them now and think about how you can affect change in your own life to make this country stronger.

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Did you live near a residential school? Explore our interactive map to find out.

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The residential school system separated 150,000 Indigenous children from their families - and the last one closed in 1997.