The City of Vancouver exists on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

The location of the Walk for Reconciliation, the place I call home, and the place I write this article now, is unceded Indigenous land. I'm grateful for the opportunity to live here, and to have marched for reconciliation alongside those who have called Turtle Island home for millennia. Thank you for sharing your land with those of us that came later, and for courageously being open to reconciling from our shared dark history.

Nearly 30,000 people packed into Vancouver’s downtown core, for Canada’s second walk for reconciliation since the historic conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation commission in 2013. After a five-year cross-country truth-gathering mission, Canada’s largest class-action settlement culminated in 94 calls to action, which the Canadian government accepted as a path to reconciliation, moving forward from a residential school system that ended only in 1996.

Thousands showed up to support Indigenous rights at the Walk for Reconciliation on September 24, 2017 in Vancouver. Photo by Dylan Waisman.

Sunday September 24 was another milestone for Canadians to move that much closer to greater awareness, solidarity, and reconciliation.

Hundreds of volunteers of all ages and ethnicities gathered in the early hours of the morning to set up for the walk. Joanne, a participant who defines herself as a story-gatherer, told me her connection to reconciliation stemmed from her experience of being a child in the sixties, who was not taken from her family like some of her Indigenous peers were.

“I went to elementary school in the 60’s. While I could go home at lunch and after school, there were First Nations children in my class being taken away from their families who might never go home again,” she said.

The advice she’d like to impart on Canadians is not to be afraid to ask questions about what happened. There is “no shame in not knowing,” she said, as long as people take steps to learn more about the past.

Mary Jane Joe, a survivor who went to residential school for 12 years, explained that she spent most of her life learning to get over the trauma she experienced. To her, reconciliation represents "getting together in agreement, in peace, because we have come through such a turbulent history. This is a way to see everybody on an equal level, instead of competing. And being in conflict, we can come together.”

Mary Jane Joe, a residential school survivor, at the Walk for Reconciliation in Vancouver on September 24, 2017. Photo by Dylan Waisman.

Cheryl Robinson, mother of two and representative of the Urban Native Youth Association said reconciliation means the ability for providing a better life and a better way for my children. The ability to learn about their culture, tradition and to walk in their own skin and to feel proud, like they can express themselves in any way that they would like to. That’s what reconciliation means to me, and I’m walking today with all nations, and all ethnicities, to say that we are one.”

Judy Hanazawa, a representative of the Japanese Canadian Citizens Association, acknowledged that Canada is not immune to racism towards any community of colour. She emphasized the importance of Canadians of colour standing together, and with Indigenous peoples of Canada.

“We feel that the emotional, physical and spiritual healing that First Nations peoples are doing, is full of courage and generosity to the rest of the people of Canada," she said. "I only wish that everybody else in Canada would take their lead.”

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Jody Wilson-Raybould, explained that “reconciliation is about embracing our differences, ensuring that Indigenous Peoples have a place of importance in Canada, and ensuring that as we move forward over the next 150 years that we’re moving from a place of the denial of rights, to the recognition of a rights-based-approach so that Indigenous peoples can finally see themselves in the mirror of the Constitution. It's going to take all of us, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to make sure that happens.”

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould at the Walk for Reconciliation on September 24, 2017. Photo by Dylan Waisman.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson took a local perspective, noting that “reconciliation is about bringing all the different cultures of Vancouver together, to reconcile a very troubled history here, as people from around the world settled here and displaced our Indigenous people."

"I think there’s an important lesson to be learned from reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, for reconciling the differences between all cultures," he said.

Robbie Waisman, a long-term activist for Indigenous rights, was an honorary witness at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and an honoured guest at yesterday’s Walk for Reconciliation. When asked what his connection to reconciliation was, he told me his survival story of the holocaust, and how it was everyone’s duty to speak out against discrimination.

“I realized that I represented one per cent of Jewish children who survived," he said. "And so I had a duty, a sacred obligation to speak on behalf of them, to inoculate people against hatred and discrimination.”

Alongside the thousands of individuals who believe in reconciliation, were partners who helped sponsor the event. Teck, an original sponsor of the Walk, said in a statement that the company “believes strongly in the important and positive role reconciliation can play in building stronger communities for everyone, and that this year’s walk is an important opportunity to continue along the path to Reconciliation.” Caroline North, executive director of the North Growth Foundation, said that “the person-to-person work Reconciliation Canada does in communities all over our province is helping all of us get to the bottom of our misunderstandings about one another. As we start to address historic injustices to First Nations in this era of social media anonymity, it is particularly important to have these opportunities to reach real human understanding.”

Through speaking to survivors, volunteers, and participants of movement from all walks of life, it became evident that each person held different memories, different meanings, and different values associated with the word 'reconciliation.' The dictionary definition of the word reconciliation means “the restoration of friendly relations.” The walk here in Vancouver bore witness to the fact that tens of thousands of people wanted to be a part of restoring relationships with Indigenous peoples.

Despite our many differences, united we stood. The word that exemplified this was Namwayut, Musqueam for We are all one.Together, we walked in the understanding that Canada is strongest in our diversity.

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