What Reconciliation is and is not
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YWCA Regina is committed to anti-colonial, anti-racist practice and to a workplace that prioritizes cultural safety. In particular, YWCA Regina acknowledges and accepts that our social systems, communities, and often our interpersonal relationships, are corrupted as racism against Indigenous peoples prevails throughout the fabric of Canadian society. The Association is committed to systemic change and to actions that further justice, truth, and reconciliation for Indigenous peoples and the society as a whole.
YWCA Regina has been working in our community for over 100 years. The majority of our work is focused on serving the most vulnerable women and children in our community, who are in the majority Indigenous. YWCA Regina acknowledges our role in the colonial history that was imposed on Indigenous people and the generational impact of this genocide (refer to the United Nations’ Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article II for a definition). In particular YWCA Regina has been and continues to be involved in the separation of Indigenous children from their families and acknowledges its participation in this injustice. We know that without decolonisation—without changes to the structure of the YWCA, changes to the systems in which we work, and changes to societal systems—there will be no reconciliation.
In this regard, YWCA Regina is committed to practicing the 10 Principles of Truth and Reconciliation as articulated in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Final Report.
A reconciliation framework is one in which Canada’s political and legal systems, educational and religious institutions, corporate sector, and civil society function in ways that are consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada has endorsed. The Commission believes that the following guiding principles of truth and reconciliation will assist Canadians moving forward:
1The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the framework for reconciliation at all levels and across all sectors of Canadian society.
2First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, as the original peoples of this country, and as self-determining peoples, have treaty, constitutional, and human rights that must be recognized and respected.
3Reconciliation is a process of healing relationships that requires public truth sharing, apology, and commemoration that acknowledge and redress past harms.
4Reconciliation requires constructive action on addressing the ongoing legacies of colonialism that have had destructive impacts on Aboriginal peoples’ education, cultures and languages, health, child welfare, administration of justice, and economic opportunities and prosperity.
5Reconciliation must create a more equitable and inclusive society by closing the gaps in social, health, and economic outcomes that exist between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians.
6All Canadians, as treaty peoples, share responsibility for establishing and maintaining mutually respectful relationships.
7The perspectives and understandings of Aboriginal Elders and Traditional Knowledge Keepers of the ethics, concepts, and practices of reconciliation are vital to long-term reconciliation.
8Supporting Aboriginal peoples’ cultural revitalization and integrating Indigenous knowledge systems, oral histories, laws, protocols, and connections to the land into the reconciliation process are essential.
9Reconciliation requires political will, joint leadership, trust building, accountability, and transparency, as well as a substantial investment of resources.
10Reconciliation requires sustained public education and dialogue, including youth engagement, about the history and legacy of residential schools, treaties, and Aboriginal rights, as well as the historical and contemporary contributions of Aboriginal peoples to Canadian society.
(from What We Have Learned: Principles of Truth and Reconciliation, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015)