Possible ways to move forward in reconciling relationships between local First Nations and non-natives came out of the Truth and Reconciliation events hosted by the Squamish Public Library this year.
Continued education, public art projects and revisiting how Canada Day and Aboriginal Day are celebrated are some of the ways forward, according to Hilary Bloom, director of library services, who reported to council last week along side TlatlaKwot (Christine Baker), general manager of Squamish Nation operations in the Squamish Valley.
The discussion group held this summer brought together Squamish Nation elders and non-natives to discuss sections of the Truth and Reconciliation’s final report, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future. Squamish Nation elders Kiyowil (Bob Baker), Humteya (Shirley Toman) and Chésha7 (Gwen Harry) participated in the sessions, telling the stories of how residential school and racism have impacted them, as they did at the library’s kickoff event, An Evening Celebrating Reconciliation, in February.
“It is your history and you deserve to hear it,” said Toman, adding relearning the Squamish Nation language and sharing it with others is essential moving forward because the language contains practical and historical information about Squamish. “You are missing out on so much because you don’t know our language.”
Similar Truth and Reconciliation events will be planned for 2017, Mayor Patricia Heintzman said, and will be accounted for in the budget.
“This year has been a real… paradigm shifting sort of evolution of our appreciation and understanding and the foundation of it, at least for me, have been the stories from Bob, Shirley and Gwen,” she said, adding she also hosted a mayor’s breakfast on reconciliation and attended a Bright New Day reconciliation circle this year. “They cut through the rhetoric and the politics of it all to the realness.”
It will take decades to repair the damage done to the relationship between First Nations and non-natives, she added.
The upcoming 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation is an opportunity to set a meaningful tone for the future, she said.
“It really gives us an opportunity to be introspective and a little daring in our truthfulness about how we view Canada, in our warts and all: Our good, bad and ugly.”
