Legacy of residential schools hits Twitter with #MyReconciliationIncludes
Final Truth and Reconciliation Commission events spark outpouring on Twitter
Two days before the final event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission began in Ottawa on May 31, the hashtag #MyReconciliationIncludes took off on Twitter.
From grassroots activists to celebrities to non-indigenous people, users tweeted out what reconciliation looks like to them — and they are still tweeting today.
- Complete coverage of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final event
- Truth and Reconciliation report brings calls for action, not words
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission urges Canada to confront 'cultural genocide' of residential schools
On Tuesday, the TRC released a 360-plus page executive summary with 94 recommendations. It comes after the commission travelled the country, listening to six years of testimony from nearly 7,000 witnesses. The report provides stories from survivors, including tales of children taken from parents, siblings separated and abuse and neglect at residential schools.
Visual artist Christi Belcourt began the hashtag with:
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> acknowledgement of the attempted "genocide" of Indigenous Peoples. Starvation policies were more than "cultural."
—@christibelcourtIt didn't take long before others began using Belcourt's hashtag to share what reconciliation looks like to them.
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> a treaty card for every settler and immigrant to remind them of their treaty obligations.
—@Ganosono<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/myreconciliationincludes?src=hash">#myreconciliationincludes</a> the fact that reconciliation goes far beyond what the government is currently willing to acknowledge or commit to.
—@ZoeSTodd<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> mandatory treaty obligation education in Canada's citizenship process.
—@Ganosono<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> public knowledge that residential schools have had a long term intergenerational effect.
—@tagaq<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> not calling the outcomes of genocide and colonialism "native problem/issues".
—@laurareidtweets<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> understanding that Treaty lands are still unceded territories.
—@apihtawikosisanEven Justice Murray Sinclair, the chair of the TRC, tweeted about his personal reconciliation view.
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> a granddaughter proud to be Anishinaabe.
—@SincmurrOthers acknowledged that the Inuit and Métis have been left out of the TRC process.
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> recognizing many indigenous ppls excluded from Indian Residential School settlement; everyone deserves justice
—@madinukPeople talked about who and what the reconciliation process includes.
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> You
—@WabKinew<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> Action from all Canadians
—@withonespiritAnd the non-indigenous community responded.
Can you see the love and connection made when being inducted as an Honorary Witness? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> us all <a href="http://t.co/8HlnGGN6O6">pic.twitter.com/8HlnGGN6O6</a>
—@ClaraHughes_<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> the acknowledgement that, as a prairie farmer, I've benefitted from the theft of Cree and Blackfoot territory.
—@StuthefarmerThere were also several pleas to never forget the legacy of residential schools in Canada.
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> people to stop asking, "Why can't you just get over it?"
—@RavenFNMI<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> teaching new Canadians, and all generations of settlers, the truth of the Canadian residential schools tragedy.
—@KennChaplin<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyReconciliationIncludes?src=hash">#MyReconciliationIncludes</a> teaching my students that it WAS in fact, a GENOCIDE. We can not hide our shameful past behind semantics.
—@Ms_LuksyWhat does your reconciliation look like? Tweet us at CBC_Aboriginal with the #MyReconciliationIncludes.
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