Truth and Reconciliation

What do those words mean?  I've never figured it out?  People throw the phrase around all the time, so on this National Orange Shirt Day, let's unpack it.  

Let's take "Truth".  Whose truth?  About what?  For whom?  It was a cute trick for Senator Murray Sinclair...

Murray Sinclair

...to name his inquiry the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" because no one would ever know what that meant.  What it really means is that anyone and everyone can throw the phrase around any way he/she wants to prove -- or disprove -- any point he/she may, or may not, be making.

For the natives, "truth" always means they were hard-done-by, abused, stomped on and robbed of their heritage.  But for me, "truth" means they were handed a pretty good deal financially -- $90 billion a year for 1.8 million people.  Ponder that for a minute; it's an enormous amount of money for nothing.

It also means they were given the opportunity to go to day, or boarding school, (they call it "residential" school and everyone is always a survivor -- not a graduate.  What's up with that BS?) to get an education like every other child in this country had, by law, to do.  The picture below is not of an Indian residential school, which natives claim were abusive and tortuous.  It is a random photo of a boarding school in Strasbourg, France, which children claim they were lucky and privileged to have attended:

Attending school was also what every successful native leader did.  That's why people like Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Pauline Johnson, Billy Diamond, Jody Wilson-Raybould, Chief Dan George, Matthew Coon Come, Mary Simon, Elijah Harper, Ovide Mercredi, Terry Teegee, RoseAnn Archibald, Phil Fontaine, Cindy Blackstock (don't get me started on her!), Shawn Atleo and many, many more rose to prominence.

They went to school and got an education.  There are also 11 native federal members of parliament who, without an education, would not be there.

So, that's "truth".

Now, let's take "reconciliation".  What does that word mean?  It means mainly "money" to the natives.  At least, that's what their end game always seems to be.  The problem with "reconciliation" is that there can never be any as long as natives continue to air grievances and take people to court.  This effectively means there can never be a final "reconciliation" for anything.  

By definition, "reconciliation" cannot be achieved, but the natives are still calling for it.  This is the cover of 'The Globe and Mail's Report on Business'.  The print reads:  "Why Canada's future depends on economic reconciliation with Indigenous communities."

The heading confirms it:  Reconciliation will never be achieved because the natives will never stop suing people.

 

As I said, a cute trick to name it the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission".  Like cancer, it's a never-ending industry which no one has any intention of curing.