Full transcript
0:00okay good evening everyone uh thanks so
0:02much for having me to the microphone
0:03I'll promise to make this short uh my
0:05name is Ry um Moran I'm the uh director
0:08of the national Center For Truth and
0:09Reconciliation and uh a year ago over a
0:13year ago Dean called me up and he said
0:16we need to do something uh the TRC is
0:18ending this is actually about two years
0:19ago now TRC is ending we're going to be
0:22a year out of the closing of the TRC mid
0:272016 and we should have an event and I
0:30said absolutely we should have an event
0:31and and at that point we started working
0:34together and today isn't just any day uh
0:39it's a very special day
0:41because if we go back six years in
0:45time June 16th was actually the very
0:48first day of the trc's Winnipeg National
0:52event so 6 years ago on this day we as a
0:56country we as individuals we as
0:58winnipeggers as many of you in this room
1:01were waiting with baited breath to see
1:05what this process of Truth and
1:07Reconciliation was going to look like
1:09this was back when wob was still
1:11covering for CBC and I had lots more
1:14hair and Dean well he had he had long
1:16hair at that point actually so
1:18yeah but uh it was a big day and and I
1:22know I was there um we were still
1:24setting up statement Gathering rooms
1:25actually until about 3:00 in the morning
1:27to tell you the truth cuz we didn't
1:29really even know what the whole whole
1:30thing was going to look
1:31like so now we're 6 years out and we
1:34have had the opportunity to hear from
1:36about 7,000 survivors right across the
1:39country and this event that we've
1:42managed to pull together is not a TRC
1:45event this is not a national event um
1:47that time is done actually this is
1:49actually the hard work time this is
1:51actually the time where we need to roll
1:52up our sleeves and figure out how we
1:55properly
1:56honor those survivors that gave gave so
2:00much to us as a country in telling us
2:02what needed to happen and tomorrow night
2:05we're actually especially privileged to
2:07be honoring some of the Blackwater
2:10survivors that actually went first that
2:12actually went before anybody else was
2:15really even speaking up and these
2:16Blackwater survivors were actually the
2:17the first survivors in the country to
2:19bring their case forward and to have it
2:21heard by the courts which actually has
2:23brought us together in conversation
2:25today and we can't forget where we
2:28started from and we can't forget this
2:30hard work that has already happened and
2:32especially in this we can't forget how
2:35much survivors have given us through
2:38telling us what it is that they suffered
2:41and putting this country on a path of
2:43social justice of human rights of better
2:46and more virtuous and normal
2:51action not only um is this day
2:54particularly auspicious because six
2:56years ago we had the TRC starting event
2:58um our friend Cindy black also informed
3:01me that uh we lost somebody who had a
3:05direct connection to somebody who had a
3:07really big impact on this country and
3:09that was the surviving granddaughter of
3:12a fellow by the name of Peter Bryce now
3:13if you have heard about Peter Bryce he
3:15was one of those brave people that stood
3:16up in about 1905 1906 1907 and said that
3:19what was happening in this country was
3:21in fact a national
3:23shame we have known in this country for
3:25a really long time that change has to
3:28happen and that that Peter
3:31Bryce gave us a 100 years ago or 100
3:34plus years ago Echoes just as strongly
3:36today and this is our opportunity to
3:38make change to make valuable and real
3:40change and everybody here is a big part
3:42of making that change and I want to
3:43thank you very much for having come here
3:45and and participated in this
3:48conference the opening plenary that we
3:50have tonight actually involves Cindy and
3:52and wob and is intended to set us on a
3:56path of this conversation that we're
3:59going to have over the next few
4:01days what we're trying to get figured
4:03out here really is this hard work that
4:07lay in front of us so do we have a clear
4:10understanding of what we even mean when
4:11we talk about reconciliation that's
4:13something that we're asking our opening
4:15panelists to stimulate our our thinking
4:17and our thoughts on so what is
4:20reconciliation how do we Implement
4:22reconciliation is another big question
4:24of this conference so how do we actually
4:26put this into gear how do we move this
4:28forward how do we get get the job done
4:30now that so many have asked us to do and
4:33that frankly we're expected to do and
4:36lastly how do we know whether or not
4:37we're doing it or not how do we monitor
4:39how do we how do we understand whether
4:40or not we're actually closing these gaps
4:42that are still so viciously apparent in
4:44the society through obscene rates of
4:47suicide and children in care and a host
4:50of other things that continue to just
4:52tell us how much work there is to do and
4:54how unreconciled the society
4:57is so it's a big conversation that we're
4:59having and it's a big few days that
5:01we're having and I hope that we don't
5:03just do this once because what I know
5:06needs to happen is that we actually have
5:07to do this every year and we have to
5:09keep the fire lit on reconciliation we
5:11have to keep the planning alive because
5:13this isn't going to happen just by fluke
5:15it's not going to happen just by us
5:17hoping it's going to happen it's going
5:18to take a lot of hard work and it's
5:20going to take a lot of planning and a
5:21lot of coordination it's going to take a
5:23lot more Blood Sweat and Tears before we
5:24actually get this done to the way that
5:27it needs to get done so with that I want
5:29to thank you all for being here I want
5:32to thank my uh esteemed uh conference
5:34co-chair and all of the elders and all
5:36of the survivors in the room and all of
5:38the people that have worked so hard to
5:39make this event a
5:41possibility and with that I'm going to
5:43turn the stage over to our first plener
5:45Speaker uh now an
5:48MLA
5:49formerly a VP here at the University and
5:53uh before that a journalist and a
5:55hip-hop artist and a whole bunch of
5:56other really exciting things so without
5:58further ado
6:06W hey
6:08Ry I don't have a Podium joke
6:14sorry h
6:45quickly
6:48when um
6:53[Music]
7:04anyway so I
7:06uh tried uh three indigenous languages
7:10down there so I think I got about 59
7:11more to go before I'm done the Dakota
7:15cre and a
7:17jibway maybe Barney can help me out with
7:19my new chanal after and we'll do it that
7:23way um but I always like to start in the
7:26uh indigenous languages that I know a
7:28little bit about just to make a simple
7:31point just to prove that the architects
7:33of the residential school era failed in
7:36their attempt to wipe out indigenous
7:38languages and
7:44cultures and more importantly than me
7:47speaking a language is at night when my
7:49two sons go to bed they pray in
7:52aishan and so that is cultural survival
7:55and it's a marked contrast from the
7:57prayers that my father and uncles and
8:00aunties said when they were their age so
8:03that's a good one I also want to
8:05acknowledge uh you know all the
8:07survivors who are here with us today you
8:09know Barney and Eugene and Bobby Joe and
8:12everyone Doris I saw many of you on the
8:15way in and so you know my uh heart
8:18always uh swells when I see you and I
8:21see you smile and you guys are good
8:22friends and mentors and uh in some cases
8:26belligerent calling me to account
8:30so that's good so I heard some nice
8:33songs here so I want to share a song too
8:36uh at the beginning uh because I think
8:38it does have to do with the point that I
8:41made about cultural survival and
8:43cultural Resurgence so in
8:50the this is uh my late father's song it
8:53actually belonged to his late father as
8:55well my name is wabon quit wob is short
8:58for wanit I'm named after my paternal
9:00grandfather and his name was wanit as
9:03well and he um he sang this death song
9:08this is his death song he passed it on
9:10to his father and that's why I learned
9:12it from myself
9:21[Applause]
9:44[Music]
9:57hey
10:17[Music]
10:25so the reason why I wanted to share that
10:26song is because it has a very uh
10:29impactful story that I think encompasses
10:32how it continues to be with us today so
10:36my father to banit was taken to St
10:39Mary's residential school when he was a
10:41little boy and you know I don't want to
10:43trigger anyone here so it's enough to
10:45say that he experienced the horror
10:46stories of which uh many people are are
10:49now increasingly aware and uh you know
10:53over and above abuse also included um
10:55the nutritional experiments that Dr Ian
10:57Mosby um
10:59uncovered but during one summer he was
11:03allowed to return home to his mom and
11:05dad uh wanit and N gigo my uh paternal
11:11Grandpa and Grandma respectively and uh
11:14they had a nice time there and on the
11:16last day before TOS bun and his uh
11:20Brothers returned to St Mary's
11:22residential school their father my
11:24name's sake had a nice picnic for them
11:27got you know all the
11:29fish and wild rice and uh stuff we like
11:31to eat and went to Nester falls to the
11:34store and he bought little candies and
11:35things like that for the boys and put
11:37them out and then they sat there at
11:40onigami and they had a nice picnic
11:42together and over the course of the
11:44afternoon the uh late wonit took his
11:48drum out and sang songs including that
11:51song his personal song which would
11:53eventually become his death song sang
11:55those songs to his sons and said you
11:57know these is these these are your songs
12:00you are to learn these and you are to
12:01carry them on today later that or carry
12:04them on into the future later on that
12:07day the priest arrived from St Mary's to
12:10take them back to the residential school
12:13and as they drove away from onigami in
12:15the truck um my father began humming you
12:19know the song and uh the priest pulled
12:22over and dragged him out of the vehicle
12:25and beat him and said don't sing those
12:28Heathen songs any
12:33anymore lucky for us my dad never
12:36listened to that
12:37priest instead he remembered that song
12:40he remembered many other songs and then
12:43he raised
12:45me my siblings taught us those
12:49things and then we are
12:52now ensuring that that Legacy Lives On
12:56to the Next Generation that the next
12:59generation of
13:00inab of little ojibway knows who they
13:03are knows their
13:05identity and so that to me is uh you
13:09know the first point about
13:10reconciliation that indigenous culture
13:13is strong indigenous people are proud
13:17and we are in a moment of indigenous
13:19cultural
13:20Resurgence across North
13:23America and it did not happen by
13:25accident in fact the only way that it
13:28could happen against the expressed
13:30intent by past governments to destroy
13:33our languages and cultures was through
13:36the determination of residential school
13:38survivors elders and traditional
13:41knowledge Keepers in our
13:42communities and so for that I say Mig hi
13:51hi it's an amazing
13:53thing so it was uh you know kind of
13:56surprising for me to hear Ry say that
13:59that um it's already been six years
14:02since the first national
14:04event and I don't think
14:07we really appreciate how far this nation
14:10has come in six years as a result of the
14:12testimony of um residential school
14:15survivors and the leadership of uh
14:17Commissioners uh Sinclair uh little
14:20child and Wilson but it is uh it is
14:23remarkable there was a little Benchmark
14:25small that came out last week that
14:27showed us uh that some progress had been
14:29made you know it's a little discouraging
14:31on the face of it this environic study
14:33came out that said 33% of Canadians
14:35still don't know what a residential
14:37school is it's discouraging until you
14:40recall that environics asked the same
14:42question in 2010 and then found that 50%
14:45of Canadians didn't then know what a
14:47residential school
14:49was so it's still too high but progress
14:52is being made and greater than any sort
14:55of quantitative
14:57measure of the progress that has been
15:00made what I would point to is the
15:02richness of the public discourse on
15:04indigenous issues in this country that
15:07has evolved over the past six years
15:10right in 2010 did you ever expect to see
15:13a prime minister say that indigenous
15:16language and culture is key to
15:18preventing you
15:20suicide
15:22right did you expect to
15:24see
15:2670,000 predominantly non-indigenous
15:28people people march in solidarity with
15:31residential school survivors in a city
15:33like
15:34Vancouver right would you have expected
15:37to
15:39see countless examples of uh Fellowship
15:43such
15:44as Phil Fontaine his brother Bert my
15:48late father and my uncle Fred adopting
15:50the Archbishop and seeing a bishop of
15:53the Catholic Church dancing a
15:55traditional honor song wearing a star
15:57blanket so the country has changed
16:00immeasurably for the better and yet we
16:02still have further further to
16:07go
16:09the first national event as Ry alluded
16:13to I covered it as a reporter and uh I
16:16recall like the kind of day-to-day
16:18sequence you know um I think on the
16:21first day there was a lot of
16:23confusion about what this was all about
16:26I remember speaking to some residential
16:28school surviv survivors and they're ve
16:30very skeptical of the TRC they're
16:32wondering what is this thing all about
16:34why are we supposed to tell our stories
16:35what are we going to get out of this why
16:37isn't their power of subpoena why isn't
16:40their criminal action things like that
16:43and uh where are the teachers where are
16:46the uh you know perpetrators some of the
16:49questions that I heard there but I think
16:52that what we witnessed over the
16:54subsequent six years was the TRC won the
16:58trust of those residential school
17:00survivors and beyond that provided a
17:03forum for
17:05healing at least that's what I witnessed
17:08in uh some of my attendance at those
17:10events you know and I think it was on
17:13the third day that there was a rain it
17:16seemed like a healing rain for many of
17:18the people who had uh started to share
17:20their stories and revisit painful uh
17:23past chapters in their lives so was nice
17:25to have a physical manifestation of
17:29the emancipatory mood that was in
17:32evidence on that
17:34day but uh unbeknownst to me probably
17:38the most significant um occasion of that
17:42first national event was uh at least
17:45with respect to my family is that my
17:47late father made his um statement to the
17:50TRC during that first national event and
17:54it would be years before I actually
17:55watched uh his statement on DV DD on
17:59video and uh I resisted watching it for
18:03a long time because I didn't
18:06want uh to revisit what I expected to be
18:09very painful stories of his childhood
18:12and um you know we lost him in 2012 and
18:15so didn't want to uh you know aggravate
18:18the grieving process but finally I think
18:21maybe 2014 I uh decided to check out the
18:24video and so I kind of braced myself I
18:27was like all right mentally prepared
18:28because it's going to be uh some pretty
18:30heavy stuff it's going to be a lot of
18:32grim
18:33stories but I was totally astounded when
18:37I watched the video because it wasn't it
18:39wasn't that at all it wasn't you know uh
18:43the Confessions of a
18:45broken
18:46inab it was a triumphant
18:49statement of somebody who had emerged a
18:52Victorious over some of the most heinous
18:54acts that a human being can commit to
18:57another
18:59we watch the
19:01video 100% in the ajibu
19:04language my father
19:07spoke at Great
19:09length and uh uh with astounding
19:13eloquence at the Anish
19:16cosmology explaining here is what our
19:19people believed here are the four
19:22traditional religions of our people the
19:25mwin the shaan NOA the Waban and the oi
19:29mayin here are the ceremonies and how to
19:32conduct them here is how you use the
19:35pipe here is the sweat here is the
19:38invocation and then he explained here is
19:41how you pray in our
19:43language and then he said yeah along the
19:46way I had this experience in residential
19:48school and this happened to me and this
19:50is how they tried to take away uh the
19:53spirit and the culture and the language
19:56but then he returned at the end but this
19:57is how you pray in the jibway and he
20:00described the order of an invocation
20:02pray to these Spirits first and then to
20:04these animals these birds and so on down
20:07the list and in conclusion he said this
20:11is a message to my
20:14descendants this is your language these
20:17are your ways pick these up use them
20:21they will serve you
20:25well to me that was brilliant
20:28that he
20:29reappropriated The Forum that had been
20:32designed to preserve for posterity his
20:35greatest woes and instead had used that
20:40as the mechanism to transmit to his
20:43children and grandchildren the very
20:45language and culture which had been
20:47targeted for
20:50Destruction it's
20:52remarkable and yet when I
20:57look at the the process that was the
21:01TRC written
21:03large I'm forced to conclude or rather
21:07it is with great pleasure that I
21:09conclude that the residential school
21:11survivors have appropriated that process
21:15in a similarly
21:18magnanimous
21:20way that they took this thing that was
21:22supposed to be the venue That was
21:24supposed to act as the Arbiter of these
21:27past traumatic experiences
21:29and instead use that as a way to deliver
21:33to this country a plan to make itself
21:37better make itself better by addressing
21:40this country's original social justice
21:44challenge the challenge of doing right
21:46by indigenous
21:48people right because the TRC was the
21:52place where we were supposed to hear
21:53about all the wrongs that had been
21:54committed to indigenous people we did
21:56hear those things at the end did we get
21:59a document blaming people no instead we
22:02had a call to action for each and every
22:04one of us to do better and to rise up
22:06and fulfill that greater part of our
22:08humanity and to me that's a remarkable
22:10Pro progress
22:12process and uh it is the reason why I
22:17believe that uh the three Commissioners
22:20Murray Sinclair Wilton little child and
22:23Marie
22:24Wilson should um be honorary recipients
22:29of the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of
22:31all residential school
22:38survivors so we've had an Awakening
22:41we've had an Awakening delivered to us
22:43by this process that was Unleashed by
22:45The Truth and Reconciliation Commission
22:48I think that um that's been a powerful
22:50Catalyst to engage non-indigenous Canada
22:53in a conversation about um what needs to
22:56take place and the calls to action
22:57absolutely one 100% are an excellent
22:59road map and the companion document of
23:03the United Nations Declaration on the
23:04rights of indigenous people I think is
23:06also a powerful road map in how to
23:08improve uh relationships with indigenous
23:11communities indigenous people and
23:13Indigenous
23:15Nations and so it's good to see that
23:17there is a dialogue happening between uh
23:21indigenous and
23:23non-indigenous
23:25however
23:27um non-indigenous people in the room
23:29should also know that there is another
23:31dimension to reconciliation happening
23:34and the conversation is one that's Pro
23:35primarily happening within our community
23:38right as important as it is to cultivate
23:40good relationships with everyone else
23:43there is also a
23:45tremendous urgency for us to have
23:48reconciliation within our own families
23:51within the
23:52generations in our
23:54homes and
23:56um it is probably uh one of the most
24:01impactful legacies of the residential
24:02school era that there are continuing
24:06emotional Gulfs
24:09between residential school survivors and
24:12their
24:13descendants an inability to communicate
24:16an inability to express love an
24:18inability to show affection an inability
24:22to exert discipline in a way that is
24:24constructive rather than harmful an
24:27inability to to unlearn the learn
24:30behaviors that were delivered to so many
24:33of
24:34us and I really have to credit uh the
24:38chief here uh Bobby Joseph for helping
24:41me to understand this Legacy you know I
24:46um never fully appreciated it until I
24:49heard him speak I believe it was 2011 at
24:52the Winnipeg Convention Center there was
24:54a conference called um hidden Legacy
24:57assembly Manitoba Chiefs put it on about
25:00the intergenerational impacts of
25:01residential schools and uh I was you
25:05know you know like the Big Nerd that I
25:07am I'm sitting front row while Bobby Joe
25:09is
25:11speaking all excited but he said
25:14something very profound or at least it
25:15was profound to me speaking in a general
25:20sense from a residential school survivor
25:23to his child he said we always loved you
25:28we just never knew how to show
25:32you I had been on Earth for 30 years and
25:35I never knew
25:36that all my life I thought my dad hated
25:42me and it wasn't until Bobby Joe said
25:45those words that I realized that that
25:47wasn't true that my father always loved
25:50me he simply was never
25:55equipped with the ability to translate
25:58what was in his heart he simply never
26:00had the ability to express that in a
26:03constructive way and so all that
26:05spiritual energy that he har harbored in
26:08his body instead was manifested in the
26:12ways that were cultivated in residential
26:14schools through anger through
26:16frustration through quick temper and on
26:18and on and on and on and on but that
26:22realization I have to thank you sir
26:24because that was
26:26liberating absolutely 100%
26:29was liberating for me
26:32because from that point on I was able to
26:34cultivate a healthy relationship with my
26:36father you know based on further
26:40compassion and understanding for what he
26:43had lived through and
26:46experienced so that was a remarkable
26:48thing and that is the type of
26:52experience that is happening in our
26:54communities and yet we need to see more
26:57of the the ability to to to fix the the
27:03chain interesting
27:06digression in our language the word for
27:08great-grandparent Don Kagan is the same
27:11as the word for great-grandchild Don
27:14Kagan and within that word is an
27:17illusion to like a braid or a
27:20chain an unbroken chain down through the
27:23generations there's tremendous wisdom in
27:25our language as evidenced by that
27:27example
27:28and so that is what we are trying to
27:30repair is the braid that chains us back
27:34through a proud lineage through great
27:38civilizations through uh indigenous
27:40Nations all across the
27:44country and yet I've
27:46observed in the time
27:49since a terrible irony about this
27:52journey of reconciliation that we're all
27:55on bear in mind this truth as evidenced
27:59by the story that I just shared about
28:00Bobby
28:01Joseph one of the most powerful
28:04catalysts that has allowed me to step
28:07outside of the historic Legacy and
28:09downward trajectory that uh my family
28:11tree has too often been on has been
28:14knowledge of that historic context
28:16Itself by becoming aware of the
28:18intergenerational impacts of residential
28:20schools I was able to start stepping out
28:23of it myself to make the conscientious
28:26decision that I am not going to treat my
28:28kids the same way that I was treated
28:30that I am going to work hard each and
28:33every day to be a better dad to be more
28:35supportive to be a better partner to be
28:38more
28:39communicative and those things don't
28:41happen by accident it takes work that's
28:43the unsexy work of
28:45decolonization it's way cooler to be on
28:48a barricade wearing camouflage but as it
28:50turns out it's much more impactful to
28:53stay at home and raise your kids and put
28:55food on the table and speak your
28:57language to them
29:00them and so I have
29:03recognized in the process of learning
29:05about the historic
29:07context that my family was placed in
29:10some inspiration to step outside of
29:13it so the irony that I spoke of that
29:16I've realized uh increasingly or become
29:18increasingly aware of is that those who
29:22are most likely to have been impacted by
29:25the past colonial projects and on
29:28goinging
29:31impacts of colonial violence against
29:33indigenous people those people who are
29:35most impacted by those
29:37things are too often those least likely
29:42to know about that history what I mean
29:46by that is this if your grandparent was
29:49a residential school survivor and your
29:51parent was part of the 60s scoop and you
29:54are today in the care of the child
29:56welfare system you are are
29:58disproportionately more likely to
30:00receive a substandard education to end
30:04up in the criminal justice system to
30:06grow up bouncing from house to house to
30:09never even hear the words reconciliation
30:11never mind residential school or
30:14colonization
30:15decolonization and are consequently
30:18being deprived of the opportunity to
30:21better yourself through acquiring that
30:23piece of knowledge which might Harbor
30:25within it a greater hope for yourself
30:28and for your
30:32future and so knowledge is
30:35power but the lack of knowledge for many
30:37of our young brothers and sisters is
30:39frustrating to say the
30:43least yet I remain hopeful
30:46reconciliation is real reconciliation is
30:50powerful you know uh Ry asked us to
30:53reflect on what reconciliation is and I
30:56know there are many powerful examples of
30:59reconciliation uh a foot and I really do
31:02like the concise definition that the TRC
31:05gave us that reconciliation is
31:08about cultivating respectful
31:11relationships it's easy to remember
31:13cultivating respectful
31:15relationships so that's good but I had
31:19this woman in na migan Ontario White
31:23Fish Bay I think share with me a uh
31:27powerful
31:30definition of what res reconciliation is
31:33as
31:34well and so she said to me you
31:38know the pipe and I know there's many
31:41teachings about the pipe so I don't want
31:42to uh step on anyone's toes but one
31:45teaching about the pipe and what it
31:47represents that I've heard growing up is
31:49this that the pipe is
31:51two separate entities you have the bowl
31:55and you have the stem one is a woman and
31:58one is a man they each have their own
32:02Integrity on their own they each are
32:04separate entities And yet when you put
32:06the bowl and stem together it becomes
32:09something new and something greater and
32:12it's more powerful than it was before so
32:15she said that is what you need to do
32:18that's what you need to be you need to
32:21take the mainstream world and you need
32:24to take our world and you need to put
32:26them together and make something new and
32:28more powerful than what was there
32:31before and so to me that is what
32:35reconciliation can
32:40be I'm now a member of the new
32:42Democratic party so forgive me if I get
32:44a little partisan here if the new
32:47liberal federal government does
32:49everything it says it's going to do
32:52right if they do everything they say
32:53they're going to do equally fund
32:55education equally fund child welfare
32:58services on
32:59reserve make sure that there's clean
33:01drinking water in every Community across
33:04the country if they do all that
33:07congratulations you've now done the bare
33:10minimum of what should have always been
33:12the case in this
33:14[Applause]
33:21country which would still be progress
33:23and I'm not I wouldn't complain but it's
33:26important to maintain
33:28perspective right I still hear people
33:31hey they gave us $8 billion no they gave
33:34the department of indigenous and
33:36Northern Affairs 8
33:38billion that's not self-determination
33:41that's not indigenous
33:43nationhood indigenous nationhood will be
33:46when will be fully realized fully
33:48reified in this country when our
33:50communities fully determine the
33:52priorities for our
33:53own children
33:56grandchildren and can deploy the
33:58resources necessary to achieve those
34:00things without concern for contribution
34:06agreements modern treaties and things
34:08like
34:10[Applause]
34:12that so why did I digress into that
34:15partisanship that blatant partisan
34:17message well
34:19because we're not even close to that
34:21pipe Vision yet right we're just getting
34:25to like leveling the playing field a
34:27little bit and by the way it shouldn't
34:29be partisan at all right doing right by
34:33indigenous kids to me that shouldn't be
34:35partisan at all that little kids in this
34:38country don't get a fair shot at life
34:39because their school is underfunded by
34:41$4,000 per student per year or because
34:43they don't have clean drinking water or
34:45because they're in the care of a CFS
34:47agency that is underfunded by some
34:5030% I don't care where you are on the
34:52ideological spectrum that should be
34:54offensive to you if you're on the
34:56Progressive end that should offend you
34:58because it offends your principles of
35:00social justice but you're if you're on
35:02the conservative end that should offend
35:04your sense that everybody in our society
35:07should get an equal starting point and
35:09then be free to achieve whatever they
35:12are capable of achieving in their
35:15lives and so we're still confronted with
35:17the reality that uh we need to muster
35:21political will to accomplish these
35:22things but the reason why I wanted to
35:24bring that up is to highlight that we
35:26still have a ways to go before we can
35:28even talk about unleashing and beginning
35:30to harness the full potential of what
35:32reconciliation might afford
35:34US
35:36right like it seems to
35:39me that if income inequality is one of
35:42the great issues of our time then if
35:45people who at a Sundance tell you that
35:47the chief should be the poorest person
35:49in the community might have something to
35:52say about how to uh create a more
35:56compassionate econ economic
35:58order it seems to me that in a
36:02country asking about accommodation and
36:06how
36:08to respond to the global humanitarian
36:11crisis that is a refugee uh
36:14situation um it seems to me that a
36:17people who have always had extended
36:19their hands to newcomers even though
36:21that trust had sometimes been betrayed
36:23might have a thing or two to offer to
36:25that
36:25conversation and certainly it's seems to
36:28me that in a time of climate change of
36:33rising oceans of global warming that a
36:36people who have always said that the
36:38Earth is our mother might have something
36:40valuable to contribute to that
36:43conversation and
36:48yeah and so to
36:51me when I look at the great issues of
36:53our time I know that indigenous Nations
36:56have something to contri contribute have
36:58something powerful to offer and so I ask
37:02uh that we all work hard to try and uh
37:06make that a better uh tomorrow so um I
37:10noticed Ry is fidgeting here at the
37:11front so I'm going to I'm going to
37:13conclude with one more
37:16anecdote I don't want to put the this
37:19person on blast but he's a former
37:21Federal minister of the crown and he's
37:23also an honorary witness of the Truth
37:25and Reconciliation Commission and we we
37:27were at a forum for the honorary
37:29Witnesses of which I'm very humbled and
37:31honored uh to be a part of in uh Toronto
37:35discussing what should the honorary
37:37Witnesses uh do or be and what is the
37:40role and this you know former politician
37:42said well uh you know I kind of think
37:45you know once the TRC wraps up then our
37:47job wraps up we're kind of done with it
37:49at that we're ambassadors for the TRC
37:51and when there's no more TRC that's uh
37:54that's it but my um esteem colleague uh
37:59or uh rather uh Uncle I should refer to
38:02him as Eugene here Eugene
38:05bird um kindly but gently reminded him
38:10I'm a residential school survivor I do
38:13not have the luxury of hanging up that
38:16title I do not have the luxury of saying
38:20the TRC is done my pain is done I will
38:22carry this burden with me for the rest
38:24of my
38:26life and how do you argue with
38:28that and so the message was to each of
38:31us as honorary Witnesses carry this
38:33message forward for the rest of your
38:35lives retell these stories tell your
38:38children ensure that the next generation
38:40of Canadians knows the truth of what
38:42happened in these lands and I think that
38:45that was a powerful directive a powerful
38:47imperative for resid for the uh honorary
38:50Witnesses of the Truth and
38:51Reconciliation
38:53Commission but I'd argue that it's also
38:55a powerful imperative for everybody else
38:56in the room too
38:59that is a powerful call to action to
39:01appropriate the terminology of the
39:04TRC when I look at Murray
39:06Sinclair when I look at Bobby Joseph
39:09when I look at Eugene Aran when I look
39:11at Barney Williams you know when I look
39:13around the room and I asked myself have
39:16they done their
39:17share to advance reconciliation in this
39:21country yes it's a resounding yes when I
39:25look at Cindy Blackstock
39:27and realize that she got the Canadian
39:30Human Rights tribunal to put into
39:34writing that the federal government is
39:35discriminating against first nation's
39:37children in this country and I asked
39:39myself has she done her share to advance
39:42reconciliation in this
39:49country yes yes a resounding
39:53yes but when I look in the mirror have I
39:57done enough to advance reconciliation in
40:01this
40:02country and I'm not one to judge but
40:04when I look around the
40:06room and my mind begins to wander have
40:09each and every one of us done enough to
40:12advance
40:13reconciliation well the yes at least in
40:17my own case when I look in the mirror is
40:19not so resounding and so there is work
40:21left to
40:22do because I don't know about each and
40:25every one of you but when when my two
40:28sons asked me what did I do in this
40:31historic moment when indigenous women
40:34were standing up and demanding to be
40:36able to live their lives free of
40:38violence when indigenous
40:41kids were demanding the ability to grow
40:44up free of Shame particularly for our
40:47two spirited brothers and
40:49sisters who are taking their own lives
40:51far too often these
40:54days when my sons and descendants asked
40:57me what did I do I want to be able to
41:00tell them that I did what I
41:03could and now it's up to you to do the
41:14same thank you very much for listening
41:16to me