ReconciliAction Births New Stories

Naturalist Trevor Herriot tells the story of a piece of Manitoba prairie in Towards a Prairie Atonement (2016).  He recounts how the prairie habitat was a balanced ecosystem for thousands of years, then tells the story of the Métis who managed it but were eventually forcibly relocated by the government and finally how modern day agriculture has threatened it.  As a naturalist, he is concerned about the dwindling habitat for endangered species and how the previous federal government removed all protection from the land.  He and others have worked for the past four years to return federal protection for uncultivated prairie habitats searching for ways to manage this common land.  You can read more about this on his blog.

Trevor Herriot (photo CBC)

Towards a Prairie Atonement is dedicated to “those who take up the work of reconciliation.”  Herriot sees the work of reconciliation and protection of the land as intertwined.  His suggestion to get beyond private and public ownership of the native prairie is found in a “third way, found in Indigenous perspectives on land and refined in Métis concepts of land governance [which] offered – and could still offer – the basis of a more sophisticated regulatory model that would respect and conserve long-term community interest in the well-being of the land.” (p.16)

Herriot also recounts the story of a woman who contacted him, offering to show him a piece of native prairie of which she had become a “bewildered steward.”  This woman had discovered the names of the Métis family that had lived on and cared for this piece of land on the South Saskatchewan River.  She wanted to “do right by the land” and find a way to reconciliation with the Métis that were driven off by “the violence of Canadian law.”  Herriot writes, “The more time she spent there and walking the prairie and riverbank alone, the more she felt that the place was opening her heart, teaching her about the land and how the Métis had lived along the river.” 

photo: TrevorHerriot.blogspot.ca

“What do you do when you know the name of the family who lived on the river lot whose title now bears your name?” asks Herriot.  The woman answers, “I will work that out, but all I know for now is this: the work of reconciliation we have been called to do is not just for governments and institutions.  I can be, I am, part of it, and getting to know this river lot is helping me find others who want to be part of it too.  I may be just a placeholder for it, a steward for a time.  Private landowners need to be thinking about that, to let go of the sense that land is only about money and wealth.  Part of reconciling as people under treaty – and including the Métis who were left out of the treaty but who also had land rights – is to make decisions that are not about money, that will get us thinking about wealth from a broader, community perspective.”

The woman has asked a Métis Elder to help her explore these questions.  This Elder told her that, “reconciliation means sharing what we have with one another and not taking from one another.” 

This week I read in the Toronto Metro newspaper that the city of Markham, ON has, after months of discussion, made a cross-cultural agreement with the Eabametoong First Nation (Fort Hope) in Northern Ontario.  In the past, Markham has built economic and cultural ties with cities in Europe and China but decided to look closer to home this year.  The agreement “hopes to promote an exchange of culture, skills, and economic opportunities between the two communities.” (Metro, Mar. 7, 2017).  

The mayor of Markham also wants to “plant hope” in this community of 1,500 people 300 km north of Thunder Bay.  As well he wants to educate people in Markham about the history and realities of First Nations communities.  You can read more about this project and see pictures of both communities and their goals on their Working Together document.  Believed to be the first of its kind, this may provide a model for other cities to follow.

Secret Path by Gord Downie & Jeff
Lemire is also an animated film with
an original soundtrack by Downie.

Driving home from work on Friday evening I heard a story on the CBC radio about a special exhibit at Canada Blooms, the annual spring flower show in Toronto.  Entitled The Secret Path, the exhibit inspired by Gord Downie`s project of the same name, tells the story of 12 year old Chanie Wenjack who escaped from an Indian Residential School and died trying to make his way home fifty years ago.  

Designed by award winning landscaper, Joe Genovese with the support of the Downie Wenjack Fund the display will allow visitors to take a path through the landscape of the Canadian Shield and over a train track which is what Chanie was following trying to get home. Information to help tell his story and that of thousands of other children will also be part of the exhibit.  

In the radio interview Genovese said, “Gord said we should just do something and this is what I am doing.”  Genovese wants to bring awareness of the story of residential schools to more Canadians and remarked that many visitors are visibly moved by the experience. “We recognize that Indigenous people have known about these issues for a very long time, have been calling for change for a very long time, and that we still have a long way to go,” he said.  An Indigenous Elder attended the opening, performing a smudging ceremony with song and drumming.  Genovese reported that the Elder was very happy to have this story told to more Canadians.  You can read more about this project here. 

I am fascinated at the new stories that are emerging as ordinary Canadians get about the work of reconciliation or ReconciliAction as it has been dubbed.  Moving from awareness and empathy to action and the formation of new relationships, these stories will inspire others to take actions and so on as we write and share our new story together.