What if we took action to reconciliation?
What if Action was first so that reconciliation would follow? What if Action was the action we took toward reconciliation and the words, offerings, prayers and honorary land acknowledgements followed?
Torn Canada Flag
As Canada is slowly tearing apart at the seams, we stand to lose our footing but gain a new perspective.
What if Action led to Reconciliation?
The writing is on the wall.
Talk is cheap.
Thankfully so is spray paint.
We can raise our flags and speak loudly into the microphone, but as long as indigenous people are not honoured with action, the words just get carried away by the winds of lack of change.
Our Native Ways – Action before reconciliation
Our native ways…
What are our native ways if not to honour the earth? If not to honour our ancestors? If not to honour our land?
If not to honour those we lost?
The path to reconciliation with Indigenous people, who’s land this was for thousands of years, is to start showing honour and respect with actions. Let us learn what happened.
Actions speak louder than words.
Banner designed by: Louise (Minowensetchketkwe) Solomon for Red Embers Exhibit in Allan Gardens
What if we supported the Indigenous ways?
Imagine, each time you heard a land acknowledgement statement at a government event an Indigenous child from that region was awarded a scholarship?
Say you are at a Humber College campus in Toronto at the end of the school year ceremony. Thousands may be gathered to witness the graduating class. The land acknowledgement words are spoken, but first an announcement:
“This land acknowledgement is dedicated to So-and-So, of Such-and-Such, First Nation, in the form of a full scholarship to a college or university of their choice.”
Feathers among us.
The Native markings are all around us. We see the ads, we see the designs in tourist shops, we can even see the graffiti filled with Indigenous symbols.
Do you stop of think what they mean?
Do you even know anything about one kind of feather or another?
if not, start here
What if another Action we took as peoples was to have immersive Indigenous classes in grade schools. What was life like for the hundreds of years before the settlers came? Would that education not span months? Would it not explore environmental savviness, farming, resource allocation, cultural story telling and so much more?
Exploring the city one step at a time.
Signs are all around us. This planted garden with the Nokomis Grandmother red flag and black heart was hanging at Allan Gardens.
Nookomis – meaning my grandmother in Ojibwe – hangs with a black heart. How many children will hear this story?
Want to learn more start here – Red Embers Exhibit in Allan Gardens
No time stands still.
Winds of change affect us all. As I walked about the city of Toronto, I came across the demolition of Honest Ed’s. The partial clearing of this land was raw and jagged in the downtown core of busy roads and packed in modern buildings.
How quickly we reconcile the land, as corporate ownership changes hands.
Those that walk the space where Honest Ed’s once stood for decades, are just as blind to the history of what was, as we were and still largely are blind to all the pain and suffering that built this country.
Is it profanity or a sign of the depth of pain of our society?
Can’t we all just get along?
It is easy to say ‘let’s just get along’ when we are on the right side of comfort, education, equal rights and strong community ties.
What do you think? Does action deserve a seat at the planning table?
Does action take precedent over reconciliation? …
The next life story: If your home was a book, what would the title be?
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