Today is the fourth National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and the 12th Orange Shirt Day, and what has called my attention is the question posed by the Yellowhead Institute “How do you like your reconciliation?” It is posed as a Venn diagram, overlapping the dimensions of impactful, transformative, easy and symbolic. I am an idealist, and I most certainly want to contribute to reconciliation that is impactful and transformative, but it’s often difficult to see next steps and best impacts. In the diagram overlap between transformative and impactful, I am drawn to the aspiration “Justice for Indigenous Peoples.” What does Justice for Indigenous Peoples mean? Certainly the 94 TRC Calls to Action from 2015 give crucial guidance, and so do the 231 Calls for Justice from the 2019 Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. But these are just the most recent of many governmental processes and reports, which seem to often be assessed as a disappointment.
I learned recently of a BC-based justice initiative from the 1990’s whose final report has just been made public; a specialized police task force worked for more than a decade to pursue justice for residential school abuse, which did not take place to the same extent in any other jurisdiction. Although many of the survivors who took part “felt some disappointment in the relatively low number of convictions and short jail times,” there was also a sense that “this process gave those victims a choice.” Choice was, in itself, seen as a “crucial step toward reconciliation.”
How can choice foster justice? What choices can I make today and every day that foster choice and therefore contribute to justice? As a teacher spending my time supporting youth, it is youth voices who help me to make sense of this kind of complexity. Below, two pieces of poetic guidance for justice from Indigenous youth writers (sources pictured, p. 185 and p. 84 respectively). They connect justice to land, water, ancestors, prayer and ultimately, healing and resurgence. I will carry their wisdom with me as I gather with others in my orange shirt, setting intention to make good choices in the year ahead.
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