Reconciling to County Council?

Robert Lovelace | Aug 02, 2023

Thanks to Jeff Green we have a comprehensive overview of the discussions at County Council concerning the recently adopted “land acknowledgement”. Such ceremonial openings are part of the collection of low hanging fruit proposed by the 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Council may now pay lip service to a higher power as they have in the past with “God save the Queen” and the “Lord’s Prayer” before they get down to business as usual. There are questions that remain. For example: how much do Council members actually know about the indigenous history of the areas they represent or the actual social and psychological effects of colonial dispossession? My guess is that they know very little although they can now allude to what they don’t know whenever they meet.

The Council report which suggested the wording for the “land acknowledgement” said it was a “necessary first step toward honouring the original occupants of a place”. In regard to Aboriginal people, how many first steps have been taken by Federal and Provincial governments over the past 200 years only to introduce greater repression? And when did offering first steps go beyond false promises? The simple truth is, if you were to begin an Aboriginal rights case in any court in this land, the first to oppose it would be the Federal and Provincial governments. Did anyone at County Council raise this concern or consider the futility of their actions? The “Land Acknowledgement” offered to Council states, “…first peoples and their ancestors who are entrusted to care for mother earth since time immemorial.” Well, who isn’t? Without such a moral conviction, the land, all other creatures, the climate, the water, will no longer work together with the human occupants. Land will continue to be subdivided for greater tax revenue and agricultural lands and forests will be covered in houses, lawns and concrete. But every time someone attempts to work with the land and protect it, they are overridden and silenced by the very governments charged with protecting them. Just how many first steps are needed to actually get started?

There is no doubt that Aboriginal people have suffered the effects of Colonialism. It is not just a matter of record but a living reality in Canada today. Statistics on welfare, education, employment, housing and civil violence overwhelmingly demonstrate this reality. Judy Greenwood-Speers suggested that including a reference to “missing and murdered Indigenous women should have been included in the “acknowledgement”. Clearly this is an issue that County Council can address through better social programs. But it is not only Aboriginal women who are more vulnerable to violence. Statistics show that women in poverty, no matter their racial or ethnic background, experience similar levels of violence and death. The fact that government programs have fostered Aboriginal poverty over two centuries is relevant, but it is also important to remember that violence of any kind is largely an economic and class problem. This is a problem created and purposely under addressed by our feudal institutions of education, health, and labour markets. The people of our small towns, farms, cottages, and businesses meet together in our County Council representatives, surely we can be honest with ourselves and get to the job at hand instead of bowing to the hypocrisy of our times.

Perhaps Ron Vandewal’s suggestion to keep it short was the best idea. And do we actually need, “committed to working with Indigenous people and all residents to pursue a united path of reconciliation.”? Isn’t this a given when it comes to serving the public? To make it so would mean getting educated. It needs funding a commitment beyond “lip service” ceremonies. Reconciliation of any sort means reflection and a greater sense of self-realization. There is plenty of guilt to go around; what we need is real work together. We buried the hatchet but not the past and never will until our future is secure.

Robert Lovelace