Era of reconciliation: A sacred relationship.

• Author: Hunter, Troy

Residential schooling was only a part of the colonization of Aboriginal people. The policy of colonization suppressed Aboriginal culture and languages, disrupted Aboriginal government, destroyed Aboriginal economies, and confined Aboriginal people to marginal and often unproductive land. When that policy resulted in hunger, disease, and poverty, the federal government failed to meet its obligations to Aboriginal people. That policy was dedicated to eliminating Aboriginal peoples as distinct political and cultural entities and must be described for what it was: a policy of cultural genocide. Justin Trudeau was true in form and spirit to attend personally at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission "handing over" ceremony. Moreover, his mandate letters to his newly appointed Ministers as well as his public commitment make clear that all 94 of the recommendations are to be implemented and that the first order of business is implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Honourable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated on APTN national television on 15 October 2015, that, "As a first order of business the Liberal Party of Canada in government will implement the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Rights." He also said in his victory speech, "You want a Prime Minister that knows that a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous peoples that respects rights and honours treaties must be the basis for how we work to close the gap and walk forward together". This walking forward together is like the two-row wampum: two canoes going in the same direction, side by side, that is what our nation-to-nation relationship needs to be.

There are two aspects to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. First, the Truth aspect acknowledges the past: it is the facts, it is what is in the Report, it is the history and it is what it is.

Nothing can change our past. The second aspect is Reconciliation going forward. Reconciliation has often been suggested by the courts in Aboriginal title litigation. At times like these, the words of the late Chief Justice Antonio Lamer of the Supreme Court of Canada are recalled when he said in the Delgamuukw case:

... Ultimately, it is through negotiated settlements, with good faith and give and take on all sides, reinforced by the judgments of this Court, that we will achieve ... a basic purpose of s. 35(1)--"the reconciliation of the pre-existence of aboriginal...