TakingITGlobal

8 RECOMMENDATION 1: Think Carefully About What Your Support Looks Like S ince the closing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the release of its 94 Calls to Action, more and more people have stepped forward to begin learning and unlearning about Canada's oppressive history with Indigenous peoples. Efforts have been made across many sectors to address issues of inequity and to change the ways that First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities are being understood and engaged with. While many of these efforts have moved things in a positive direction, there has also been setbacks and resistance. Some Canadians continue to downplay and even deny the colonial history of this country and in many places direct racism and violence continues. One of the more subtle challenges to progress in rebuilding relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples has been the ways in which reconciliation has been co-opted and appropriated. We have seen many individuals, organizations, corporations and governments approaching reconciliation with enormous self-interest, positioning themselves positively by doing work that appears to 'help' Indigenous peoples. Many people are only engaging with reconciliation within the boundaries of what is comfortable and beneficial to them with little interest in advancing Indigenous rights when it comes to shifts in power and control. This has been particularly evident to us in the youth sector where reconciliation has become

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