Reconciliation - Using our Words Correctly - Part Two

If there was ever going to be a Canadian word of the decade - reconciliation would be most likely be it.    Unfortunately, despite it being an important word, by the time we reach 2030 - many of us will be so very tired of hearing the word. We will be tired of it because it is being so badly misused.

Reconciliation is a process. Reconciliation does not mean that we have to change the name of every public building from the name of a historical figure who was racist ( so many if not all were racists and sexist) to a name in an Indigenous language. Taking down the statues of every politician of the last 140 years will not do what is needed to achieve reconciliation. Chanting the word reconciliation a thousand times will not cause change. Repeating it like some sort of mantra - applying it to every situation will not do a single thing to address the issues that so desperately need to be addressed. Using the word like a hammer on such topics as boil water advisories, inadequate housing and the lack of accessible education or medical care will not produce any resolution. Discovering that some civil servant or bank manager had made a decision that may have been based on race - is not proof that reconciliation is dead. Furthermore, passing laws based on what the United Nations says about Indigenous rights will not mean that all of the issues are resolved.

I suspect that saying to Indigenous people in Canada that any sort of true reconciliation is going to take time will cause many to say that they have been waiting for centuries - why should they have to wait any longer? And that is a fair point. Canada as a nation and individual Canadians have for far too long, made decisions based on race. The question is how do we stop doing that?

It would seem to me that people need to change how they think about people who are different than them. We need to eradicate the bias that has existed since the arrival of the Europeans, those Eurocentric assumptions that have allowed us to mistreat, abuse or ignore Indigenous people. Those biases are deeply ingrained into some peoples' thinking. That thinking is not going to change just because someone says it should.

I believe that people change their attitudes or beliefs when they are convinced it is the best thing to do. For example, I, along with all other drivers in North America, drive on the right side of the road. Yes, it is the law and I do not want to get a ticket, but many of us break laws every day. We all drive on the right side of the road because we have been convinced that doing so is better for us. After all, it is safer. Those of us who have supported LGBTQ, rights, feminism or the acceptance of individuals with disabilities have done so because we knew others who were engaged in those struggles and what they said made sense to us. It made sense for the world we wanted to live in.

If reconciliation is to ever actually happen, we as individuals need to make individual changes. Little things such as being careful of how we use words, how we include everyone into the conversation or reading, no matter how difficult it is, about the issues from a different perspective. Reconciliation will not happen because someone says we have to accept it. Reconciliation is about changing the hearts and minds of a nation. And that will take time.