DO YOU KNOW WHAT TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION MEANS? HERE'S A SHORT RUNDOWN

The United Nations' definition of genocide lists five acts intended to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, including killing or harming its members, deliberately subjecting it to living conditions that will bring about its destruction, preventing births and forcibly transferring children out of the group.

Rick Monture says Canada is guilty of committing all of them, both historically and on an ongoing basis.

Monture is a member of the Mohawk nation, Turtle clan, from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, and associate professor in the department of English and cultural studies and the Indigenous studies program at McMaster University.

"The whole Indian Act was designed to eradicate Indigenous cultural and political identity from the Canadian population, pure and simple," Monture said. "Whether through genocidal acts, the forced removal of children or displacement from the land, Canada has engaged with all the tenets of genocide when it comes to Indigenous people. That set in motion this 150-year policy in Canada that still exists.

Whether or not Canada acted with the intention to eradicate Indigenous peoples and assimilate them into white settler society isn't a matter of opinion. It's a historical fact.

When Duncan Campbell Scott, who oversaw Canada's residential school system between 1913 and 1932, amended the Indian Act in 1920 to mandate attendance in residential schools, he stated, "Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian department, that is the whole object of this bill."

Canada's treatment of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples here, as well as the actions of preConfederation settlers, amounts to hundreds of years of colonization, violence and oppression that continues today.

So what do we do as a nation to end the process of colonization and begin to heal the damage done? The truth and reconciliation process is one way Canada is attempting to do that.

FORMAL TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

Truth and reconciliation is, first and foremost, a formal process involving all levels of government, Canadian institutions and Indigenous leadership.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed in 2008 as part of a class-action lawsuit — the largest in Canada's history — by 86,000 survivors of the residential school system against the Government of Canada.

Residential schools were administered by Christian churches

and supported by the federal government for well over 100 years, with the last school closing in 1997. Their purpose was to separate Indigenous children from their families and communities, cut spiritual, cultural and religious ties and indoctrinate those children into white colonial Christian society. They were a tool of assimilation that helped the new country of Canada fulfill the goals of the Indian Act of 1876.

"I think what truth and reconciliation is trying to address is things that were started into play at that time. The whole Indian Act was designed to eradicate Indigenous people from the Canadian population," Monture said.

The residential school system operated for so long that in many families, successive generations suffer from trauma related to their time in the schools. Children in residential schools lived in cruel and unsafe conditions, suffered from physical and sexual abuse and died from disease, neglect and suicide in numbers that wouldn't have been tolerated in any other context.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's mission was to uncover all of these truths by documenting the experiences of 6,000 witnesses, and then to figure out how to put an end to the ongoing oppression and colonization of Indigenous peoples and start repairing the damage done.

To this end, the commission outlined recommendations for how Canada can "redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation," including a list of 94 recommendations.

These calls to action are directed to federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments, chief coroners, universities, education ministers, and address child welfare, education, language and culture, health, justice, apologies from churches and education in Christian communities, school curriculum, heritage, monuments and commemoration, media coverage and education for journalists, sports and athletic development, business and informed consent around development projects and immigration.

The 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission report isn't the first one to provide recommendations for reconciliation. Others, like the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, have urged Canadians to begin a reconciliation process that would involve changing the foundations of Canada's relationship with Indigenous people.

INDIVIDUAL TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

Naomi Sayers is an Indigenous lawyer who practises several areas of law — including Indigenous law — in Sault Ste. Marie. While the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action are mostly aimed at governments and institutions, Sayers said reconciliation is also a collective and personal process that every Canadian

can and should participate in.

"Truth and reconciliation as people doing something means coming to terms to what Canada's history actually is and really understanding the context in which Indigenous peoples' experiences in Canada come about," she said. To better understand Indigenous peoples' experiences in Canada, she recommends reading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report, among other documents and free resources.

"Then, the reconciliation is 'OK, great, you've learned about the history or you're taking steps to learn about the history, what next?'"

Next steps might involve reading the TRC's calls to action and thinking of ways to help implement them or donating money to Indigenous organizations, including those working toward the goals of truth and reconciliation.

"Often times in discussions like this, Canadians get overwhelmed, and they don't know what to do with their feelings," she said.

"If you feel like you can't do anything, there are organizations in your jurisdiction that are probably trying to implement programs that will help Indigenous people in your community. Donate if you can, or volunteer. Helping does not require you to do big things."

Metroland considers the term Indian offensive and only necessary when used in historical or legal contexts.

The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line is available 24-hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of a residential school experience. Support is available at 1-866-9254419.