Past, Present and Future: Reconciliation as an Everyday Reality

LECTURE: REV. DR. AARON M. ROSS
REFLECTION: REV. BRUCE BROWN

Recent news events pertaining to the injustices and travesties endured by Indigenous people in Canada have brought conversation about reconciliation prominently into the public’s attention. Indeed, this is a timely moment for all of us to prioritize this process. Yet for Indigenous people, there is nothing “new” about these events. The sting of Canada’s historic and present colonial policies has been well-known since the dawn of Euro-Canadian expansion and settlement across this vast land. For non-Indigenous people, it is important to address these colonial themes so prevalent within Canada. If reconciliation truly is the goal, then non-Indigenous people must take seriously the pursuit of decolonization. Further, before there can be any reconciliation, there needs to be truth and lament. We have only just begun to hear the truth.

Non-Indigenous people often perceive reconciliation to be an apology or an event. But it is so much more than that. If we take reconciliation seriously, then it needs to be something taken on in the everyday. Looking back and reconciling with the past is a significant part of that. But more than merely consideration of the past, reconciliation must be an everyday reality, and one that includes the past, present, and future. Today we look back so that we can move forward into the future together in healing, reconciliation, and relationship.

https://www.grad.summitpacific.ca/news/2021/6/22/public-lecture-june-28th-2021-past-present-and-future-reconciliation-as-an-everyday-reality-rev-dr-aaron-m-ross