The power of reconciliation

CELIA BRAUER

On June 20, I was privileged to attend a special event during which Mayor Gregor Robertson announced that June 21, 2013, to June 20, 2014, would become the Year of Reconciliation in Vancouver. This event followed a motion, passed by Vancouver City Council on Feb.7.

The motion from councilor Andrea Reimer recognized that, “Reconciling past injustice, and strengthening shared understanding and awareness of history, is vital to both aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities in building a successful future for Vancouver.” At the June 20 event, we heard the landmark proclamation read publicly.

Vancouver has come a long way from its racist beginnings since its settlement in the 1850s. Throughout the 20th century, as in the rest of Canada, some residents displayed, “hate-motivated violence towards racial or ethnic minorities.” In 1907, there were riots driven by the Asiatic Exclusion League against the Chinese and Japanese communities, which resulted in fatalities and property damage. In 1947, the league was behind another major downtown rally. It started with rock throwing and window smashing and grew into a gun battle. Police invoked martial law for 10 days afterwards.

This happened only two years after the end of the Second World War, in which Canadians had fought and died; a war where the genocide of millions of Jews and other ethnic groups and nationals took place and racism was a driving force. Japanese Canadian residents in British Columbia had been forcibly taken from their homes and interned all over Canada. Jews have known racism in this country – at an individual level and hidden behind official government policy, as was evident by prime minister Mackenzie King’s refusal to accept Jewish refugees from Europe during the 1930s.

Even though Canada considers itself a relatively peaceful country, behind the scenes there has been much racism directed at individuals. For too many years, all levels of government participated in a gradual takeover of the resource-rich land and instituted laws to assimilate Canada’s resident First Nations into the predominant culture. These edicts succeeded in further marginalizing and impoverishing First Nations peoples. One of the more unconscionable decrees was instituted to “take the Indian out of the child.”

The story of the residential schools is well known today, but many do not know the extent of the government’s actions. From the 1870s to the 1990s, 150,000 aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their families by the RCMP and placed in 130 schools across Canada. According to Reconciliation Canada, “90 to 100 percent suffered severe physical, emotional and sexual abuse. There was a 40 to 60 percent mortality rate in Indian residential schools.”

As unpleasant as it is to remember the tragedies of the past, the legacies of these gross injustices are around us today, as the survivors of these schools, their children and their families live among us. This is why it is important to create dialogue with local First Nations people, to pay attention to the stories of those who experienced these profound violations, and to encourage Vancouverites from all walks of life to share in the conversation.

The local force behind this encouragement of dialogue on reconciliation is Chief Robert Joseph, a hereditary chief of the Gwawaenuk First Nation and a survivor of residential schools. He has been instrumental in building bridges between the aboriginal community in Vancouver and Canada and has come a long way from the experiences as a little boy in St. Mary’s School more than six decades ago. Chief Joseph is well known to some Vancouver Holocaust survivors who have worked alongside him, sharing their stories.

Our work on reconciliation is just beginning. Each of us can and should make an effort to join in this conversation. We can all take action on many levels.

Here are some events in which people can participate during Reconciliation Week, Sept. 16-22. The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and the Jewish Community Walk Team have registered groups and community members are encouraged to join. Sept. 16: the lighting of the sacred flame to commence the Week of Reconciliation; Sept. 17: the All-Nations Canoe Ceremony, taking place from Kits Point to the Olympic Village. People-powered crafts will join traditional canoes in a welcome ceremony to Coast Salish lands; Sept. 18 to 21: TRC B.C. National Event at the Pacific National Exhibition. Witness the proceedings; come share and learn the truths about Indian residential schools; Sept. 22: Walk for Reconciliation (from the Vancouver Public Library to Creekside Park) and the New Way Forward Celebration. Participate in the walk, join a group or create one.

The Year of Reconciliation will continue to be enhanced by interactions between the aboriginal and wider communities. See if you can come together for a dialogue with aboriginal residents in Vancouver through Reconciliation Canada. Sharing stories is a powerful healing tool.

As Jews know too well, racism has been in existence throughout history all around the world. With colonization, indigenous people everywhere suffered grave injustices, including the loss of land, their way of life, and even their life. We can certainly relate to being a stranger in a strange land, when we lose our bearings, our relationships, our homeland or our health. It is all that more poignant when indigenous people feel like they have become strangers in the lands of their ancestors.

Knowing what we know now about this history, the time has come to create new relationships. We can all help. Reconciliation is a process between individuals. Jews are very familiar with this; we know important work needs to be done on the ground, one person and one group at a time, and we can be strong facilitators in this process. We owe it to ourselves to participate as members of the human family. We owe it to ourselves as Canadians. We owe it to future generations to do what we can to make this right.

As Chief Robert Joseph has said, “Our future and the well being of all our children rests with the kind of relationships we build today.” L’dor va d’or.

Learn more and register for the Sept. 22 walk at reconciliationcanada.ca.

Celia Brauer is a staff member and co-founder of the False Creek Watershed Society. A version of this article appeared in the Georgia Straight online.

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