Clockwise from top left: Etienna Moostoos-Lafferty, Soni Dasmohapatra, David Danto, Vivian Giang, Tom Snow and Alvin Ntibinyane 

It has been 10 years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced its 94 Calls to Action. 

“Many Indigenous communities are still in the midst of deep grief – still mourning generations of children lost,” says Etienna Moostoos-Lafferty, assistant professor and lead of the Indigenous Research Group at MacEwan. “It is difficult to move others toward reconciliation when we ourselves are still healing.”

Ten years after the Calls to Action were issued, five members of the MacEwan community reflect on how far we’ve come and where we need to go from here.

After all, as Moostoos-Lafferty says, the work is not just the responsibility of Indigenous people. “This journey belongs to all of us.”

Thoughts on 10 years having passed since the calls to action were announced?

Ntibinyane: For many newcomers like me, our understanding of Canada often begins with idealized narratives of peace and multiculturalism, yet the Calls to Action demand we confront the truths that have long been ignored. The fact that many Canadians, immigrants included, are still unfamiliar with the Calls to Action shows we have a long way to go.

Snow: There’s a problem with the word “reconciliation.” I cannot explain it to my children. We have nothing to reconcile. We didn’t do anything to anybody. Things were done to us. I would prefer another word like restitution or amendments. Truth and restitution. Truth and amendments. Those would be more fitting for the work that needs to be done.

Moostoos-Lafferty: Following the release of the Calls to Action, I was collaborating with Indigenous educators across the province on how to integrate them into their teaching practice. We remembered the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Report from 1996, so one of our greatest fears was that the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action would meet the same fate – left to gather dust on a shelf, forgotten. Our kohkoms and mosoms (grandmothers and grandfathers) endured tremendous trauma and abuse and then found the strength and courage to share their stories with the world. To have their truths ignored again was not something we, as Indigenous educators, were willing to allow.

Danto: If we assess our progress on the 94 Calls to Action, we are more likely near the beginning than the end. In many arenas today, there is at least some recognition of harms done and discussion of how to move forward. In my view, reconciliation is measured less by statements and more by sustained, respectful relationships.

Dasmohapatra: Colonization is complex and impacts the day-to-day experiences I have. As a person born in Edmonton of Asian descent, my inquiry is, “How do I support and be an ally?”

Is there a particular call to action you think we’ve made progress on?

Moostoos-Lafferty: Call to Action 63, iv calls on the Council of Ministers of Education to maintain an annual commitment to Aboriginal education issues including identifying teacher-training needs. I believe we have made strides here. But this work is not just academic – it is deeply personal. It demands a commitment that goes beyond intellect; it requires the engagement of our spirits and our hearts. Not all educators feel safe or ready to enter into that space, and that must be acknowledged with compassion.

Ntibinyane: I believe there has been modest progress in Call to Action 86, which calls on journalism programs and media schools to require education on Indigenous history including residential schools and the treaties. At some institutions, we’ve started to integrate Indigenous voices and perspectives more intentionally into the curriculum. But it’s still uneven and, too often, symbolic. What’s needed is a reimagining of journalism education that centres Indigenous epistemologies, not just as content, but as a way of knowing and teaching.

Giang: In Calls to Action 62 to 65 around education, I can see progress on the creation of age-appropriate curriculum for kindergarten to Grade 12 students. I first learned about residential schools in university, so it’s very encouraging that my elementary-aged children learn about residential schools, treaties and Indigenous cultures, histories and contributions.

Snow: The language is coming back. Everybody has their own dialect, and everybody’s writing their own way. The language, at least, can be preserved. There’s also healing and self-esteem that you can get from your own language. But you can’t find a job without English, so what good does it do me in a money world?

Dasmohapatra: I see the resurgence of Indigenous ways of being by Indigenous Peoples that I rarely witnessed as a child. It is powerful to see my three children, their friends and their schools grapple with questions of reconciliation and awareness of Indigenous teachings. In their Grade 3 classes, where Indigenous curriculum is introduced, most of the children recognized what Treaty 6 stands for and how they identify as Treaty Peoples. This is inspiring to me.  

An action that needs more attention?

Dasmohapatra: As a professor in arts and cultural management, the museums and archives Calls to Action are especially important to me. Continued efforts need to be made to transform current colonial systems in museums and archives to move towards repairing harm, the return of sacred Indigenous items and respect of Indigenous cultural sovereignty. Museums must reimagine and work in ways that are not extractive, creating a movement towards truly listening to the lived experiences of Indigenous Peoples.

Giang: Calls to Action 43, 44 and 92 explicitly address the adoption and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which includes obtaining “free, prior and informed consent” from Indigenous communities affected by various activities such as natural resource development. These particular Calls to Action need much more attention to ensure Indigenous Peoples’ inherent rights are respected.

Moostoos-Lafferty: The understanding that truth must come before reconciliation. Too often, well-intentioned people become enamoured with the idea of reconciliation without fully grappling with the heart work that it requires. I recall sitting in a circle with Treaty 8 Elders back in 2016 when an Elder gently reminded me, “There is a lot of healing to do.”

Ntibinyane: Call to Action 84, which urges media organizations to ensure Indigenous people have access to media and opportunities to tell their own stories, needs urgent attention. Indigenous media remain underfunded, under-amplified and often sidelined. And mainstream media continues to frame Indigenous communities in reductive ways, often through a lens of crisis rather than sovereignty or joy.

Snow: Some burials were found – secret, hidden burials – and all of a sudden, the truth came out. So now we have things in place to go looking for more. And we have this national day for survival in September. But, still, a lot of people just don’t seem to get it.

Where you hope we’ll be 10 years from now?

Moostoos-Lafferty: As the late Justice Murray Sinclair wisely said, it may take seven generations before we can truly say we’ve made significant progress. This work is not short-term – it is intergenerational. My advice is to do what is necessary to build a more meaningful, treaty-informed relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in this country.

Danto: I see productive, reconciliation‑focused dialogue among health‑care, educational and governmental sectors increasing. Each conversation moves us – however incrementally – from acknowledgement toward action. Only through meaningful dialogue and respectful relationships can we expect to move from acknowledging harms done to the aspirational goal of reconciliation.

Giang: In 10 years, I hope there are better mechanisms for Indigenous Nations to exercise their rights to self-determination over their communities and lands. 

Ntibinyane: Ten years from now, I hope reconciliation is not something we only speak about in institutional reports or acknowledgements. I hope it is lived.

Final thoughts

Giang: Reconciliation requires action and commitment from non-Indigenous allies. As a treaty person, I ask myself what actions I am taking to work towards reconciliation and how Indigenous perspectives and voices can be centred in my classroom and research.

Moostoos-Lafferty: Working with hundreds of teachers to mobilize change has been neither simple nor quick. It has required deep reflection, soul-searching and significant unlearning. I am grateful for those teachers who have stepped into this work with courage – those who continue to choose truth over comfort.

Snow: Poverty is a really big issue that needs more attention. But capitalism needs poverty to work. There’s a limited supply on Earth, and you can’t just keep getting more and more. Traditionally, we address greed with levelling systems where the haves give to the have-nots. That's in our culture. How can we all raise children who – when they grow up – think of sharing what they have instead of hoarding?

Ntibinyane: As someone relatively new to this country, I’ve come to learn that reconciliation is work – uncomfortable, urgent and necessary. Immigrants are often positioned as grateful beneficiaries of Canada’s generosity, but we must also recognize the costs borne by Indigenous Peoples for us to be here. For me, reconciliation means standing in solidarity, listening with humility and using the tools I have – education and storytelling – to shift power and amplify truth.

Want to learn more?

You might get started with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba, which now houses all of the documents collected by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 

_____

MacEwan University is a diverse community with 2,528 faculty and staff supporting almost 19,000 students. We are proud of our more than 90,000 alumni in communities across Canada and around the world.