Residential school survivors gathered for the release of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Ottawa. Photo from Truth and Reconciliation Commission / Twitter
Can the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission lead to true reconciliation in Canada? Steven Newcomb (Shawnee / Lenape) of the Indigenous Law Institute looks closel at the group's final report:
Reconciliation is not a word of liberation. It’s a word of submissiveness and timidity. It is now typically used by the Catholic Church in place of “confession.” It’s a trap word. It can lead, for example, to our Original Nations’ caving in to and going along with the claim of crown or federal sovereignty (domination) over our existence. Reconciliation is designed to quell and pacify noisy discontentment and dissatisfaction such as expressed by Idle No More. In my view, it’s a word that’s being used by non-Native governments and the Catholic Church in an effort to put us to sleep. Evidence to support this assessment is found in the final report released last year by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). After discussing at great length the so-called doctrine of discovery, the report states: “We would not suggest that the repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery necessarily gives rise to the invalidation of Crown sovereignty.” Let’s re-express that in simple English: “Our analysis of the Doctrine of Discovery does result in us questioning the validity of Crown sovereignty.” More to the point, “We still accept the assumption of Crown sovereignty as valid despite it being premised on an invalid doctrine of discovery that ought to be repudiated.” Who is the “we” in the above sentence? It’s the royal “we’” of the crown government of Canada. The fact that Indigenous drafters were working for “the crown” as part of the TRC does not change the fact that the TRC’s final report expresses “the crown’s” view, and that of the government of Canada as a British Commonwealth country. It ought to go without saying that the crown is going to bolster and accept its own assumption of crown sovereignty in relation to our Original Nations and Peoples, despite the doctrine of discovery being revealed as a cruel joke based on papal grants, royal charters, and “ceremonies” (rituals) of domination (“possession”).Get the Story:
Steven Newcomb: Reconciliation and the Claim of Crown Sovereignty (Indian Country Today 5/3) Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report:
Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future (June 2015)
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