TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION … A PERSONAL REFLECTION
I have spent my career working in social services, and over the years I’ve been fortunate to have had a wide variety of experiences working with many different vulnerable individuals and I’m proud of the positive impact I’ve made in their lives. However, I continue to be disheartened by the minimal – and at times negative – impact social service efforts have on the well-being of indigenous peoples as a whole.
As a leader in social services, I believe WJS has a responsibility to not only serve our own organization but also to contribute to system change. When I think about the statistics around life expectancy, mental and physical health, economic status and education achievements for indigenous people I feel a strong sense of urgency to find a way to work differently so these outcomes will change.
I believe the road to truth and reconciliation begins by looking inward and taking responsibility for our part in making a change and making a commitment to think and act differently.
Over the past few weeks, fate has intervened to give me two different opportunities to work on my own journey. As an attendee at the BC Federation of Community Services annual meeting in Penticton in late June, I participated in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise. In this exercise participants stand on blankets that represent Turtle Island and then, as guided through an oral presentation, we experience the land being taken by government decisions, the people dying from small pox and war, and families being torn apart by residential schools. The visceral experience of being on a blanket that gets smaller and smaller and watching as the group of people shrinks and becomes separated, brought my learning to a different level. A very powerful part of the exercise was individuals and Elders from the First Nations bands in the Simillkameen territories who shared their own personal experiences. Their courage to share with strangers and allow us a glimpse into their family experience was truly humbling.
As a child and student growing up I was given information about the settlement of Canada, the interactions between the Aboriginal peoples across the land, the creation of reserves, the small pox decimation, the introduction of alcohol, and the implementation of residential schools. But I have never had all the different events pulled together in a such a succinct and integrated process. which clearly illustrated the amplified impact of each decision on Canada’s First Peoples.
The experience has given me pause to think about my past beliefs and what I need to consider as I move forward and my responsibility as a leader to bring cultural understanding to WJS. Every day WJS and Spirit of Our Youth interacts with indigenous children and families. How does our organization support this work? How do we ensure culture is at the center of our work? How do we support individuals to explore their own cultures in a purposeful way? These are all great questions that we must explore together.
I mentioned earlier that this was one of two experiences that have impacted me, you will have to wait for my next blog to find out about my participation in a sweat ceremony in Slave Lake Alberta!
— Caroline Bonesky, CEO, WJS Canada