A Milestone In Our Reconciliation Journey

Calls to action are just words if action is not taken. I’m touched today that the City of Edmonton announced over 8000 civic employees  have now had training on the history of residential schools and their ongoing intergenerational impacts. This, along with treaty awareness has encouraged dialogue on reconciliation in our workplaces.

In March, 2014, I sat through the first day of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission National event listening to the gut-wrenching stories of survivors – including tales of government-sanctioned abuse and I knew I was changed by what I had learned, and that our city had to change too. Edmonton’s TRC learnings caused us to lead with our actions and not just our words, including creating an urban Aboriginal youth leadership initiative and committing to building and supporting more places where indigenous spiritual and cultural practices could occur within the city limits. We were also the first municipality in Canada to commit to workplace training, which became the 57th call to action from the TRC.

I have attended several of these staff training sessions and I can see the change that’s already happening within my colleagues and the ‘connecting of the dots’ that residential school trauma affects many of the people – young and old – whom we serve out in our City. Every once and a while I’ll get an email, most often from firefighters to be honest, who confess that if they had the opportunity to do things over again, they would have benefitted from this training earlier on in their careers and treated the most vulnerable they encounter with more compassion and less judgement. This is what this training provides; opportunity to change your approach, to lead with compassion and to treat those around you with dignity and respect.

I am deeply honoured to have been gifted today with a Spirit Name, kîsikâw acâhkos — Day Star — by the The City of Edmonton External Elders Knowledge Keepers Advisory Committee. I accept this name, not on my behalf but on behalf of the survivors and their stories.

Reconciliation is not an indigenous issue, it’s a Canadian issue. Every single one of us is impacted by the cultural genocide that happened as a result of residential schools and other colonial policies. But I’m incredibly proud of our 8000 employees who have taken time for this training, and grateful to all those who have made our learning possible. Our work is not complete and we have more work ahead to live up to the shared prosperity envisioned in Treaty 6. But this training is important step forward for the City of Edmonton.