truth and reconciliation — 10 years later

 truth and reconciliation — 10 years later

Ten years ago, I took a course at Langara College that changed the way I looked at history, reconciliation and my own responsibility as a person living on these lands.

I learned from Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers, including Shane Pointe, and one teaching that stayed with me was the importance of being a witness.

I cannot tell another person's story. It is not mine to tell.

I can listen. I can learn. I can remember. I can document what I have witnessed. And I can tell my own story.

Shane Pointe, a Musqueam Elder and Knowledge Keeper who passed away this year, was one of the people who helped teach me that. I think about that teaching now, especially as September 30 approaches.

Ten years ago, I hoped that by now we would have moved much further.

We have learned more. We have heard more Survivors. More records have come forward. There is greater public recognition of residential schools, the children who never came home, the Survivors and their families, and the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

But reconciliation cannot simply be something we talk about once a year.

It is also about the land.

The water.

The forests.

The salmon.

The environment we leave for the generations coming after us.

And lately I have been thinking about something else: artificial intelligence.

We are entering a strange time when AI can repeat information endlessly, sometimes without knowing where it came from. Human stories, photographs, research and lived experiences can be copied, rearranged and repeated until the original person almost disappears.

That makes being a witness feel even more important to me.

My old photographs. My paintings. My family research. My notebooks. My blog. The things I saw and documented before AI was everywhere.

They are pieces of a human record.

I don't claim to speak for anyone else.

I can only say:

I was here.
I saw this.
I learned this.
I remember.
This is what I can witness.

Ten years later, I am still learning.

And I still hope we can do better.

#TruthAndReconciliation #NationalDayForTruthAndReconciliation #OrangeShirtDay #EveryChildMatters #MMIWG #Witness #Reconciliation #IndigenousHistory #LandAndWater #ShanePointe #Langara