Life doesn’t turn out the way you plan most of the time. When Covid-19 hit the world by force, everyone had to change how they lived their life. BYTE had to start working from home because we did not know how big of a threat Covid was. We were preparing workshops to be done online and trying to keep in touch with our communities. Along with struggling to keep connections to each other and adapting to new changes. The BYTE crew thought it would be beneficial to us to see each other on Zoom more often so we started a book club.
We all started reading Honouring the Truth: Reconciling for the Future. To be honest many thoughts scattered through my mind. I was scared of what I was going to learn. Scared that I would be filled with hate. Instead it gave me understanding. Understanding of what my own mom went through, understanding of what my people went through, understanding my own legacy.
I felt so many emotions while reading. I tried to remain hopeful although this document has been around for 12 years. Canada is still divided. Not divided just by race but by educated versus uneducated people. Some Canadians think they know the entire history of our country, but history books do not elaborate on many things regarding Indigenous People. It is a very sugar-coated history, I can only assume that it’s so some people won’t feel guilty. Really no one should feel guilty unless they refuse to educate themselves. Education is the best start to move forward with reconciliation.
I am glad I got to read this with amazing people, who recognized when a chapter was hard to read, they checked in on me. To give context I was the only Indigenous person on the BYTE team at the time. Even if the document didn’t give me the hope I wanted because of politics, the BYTE Team did. Seeing their genuine interest in learning more and seeing the empathy that they have, made my heart feel happy. The Canadian Government has not fulfilled their promises made to Indigenous People, but judging from my parents stories, and comparing it to my life there is change happening. We can only hope our children will live in a better world.
Here is the link to the 150 Acts of Reconciliation: http://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/150acts.pdf