Legacy of residential schools hits Twitter with #MyReconciliationIncludes

Twitter users are speaking up about what they want in their reconciliation process.

Final Truth and Reconciliation Commission events spark outpouring on Twitter

Kim Wheeler CBC News Posted: Jun 02, 2015 7:30 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 2, 2015

Former Olympic athlete Clara Hughes tweeted: "Can you see the love and connection made when being inducted as an Honorary Witness?"

Two daysbefore the final event of theTruth and Reconciliation Commission began in Ottawa on May 31, the hashtag #MyReconciliationIncludes took off on Twitter.

From grassroots activiststo celebrities to non-indigenous people, users tweeted out what reconciliation looks like to them and they are still tweeting today.

On Tuesday, the TRCreleased a 360-plus page executive summary with 94 recommendations.Itcomes after the commission travelled the country, listening to six years of testimony from nearly 7,000witnesses.The report provides stories from survivors, including tales of children taken from parents, siblings separatedand abuse and neglect at residential schools.

Visual artist Christi Belcourt began the hashtagwith:

#MyReconciliationIncludes acknowledgement of the attempted "genocide" of Indigenous Peoples. Starvation policies were more than "cultural."
—@christibelcourt

It didn't take long before others began using Belcourt's hashtag to share what reconciliation looks like to them.

#MyReconciliationIncludes a treaty card for every settler and immigrant to remind them of their treaty obligations.
—@Ganosono

#myreconciliationincludes the fact that reconciliation goes far beyond what the government is currently willing to acknowledge or commit to.
—@ZoeSTodd

#MyReconciliationIncludes mandatory treaty obligation education in Canada's citizenship process.
—@Ganosono

#MyReconciliationIncludes public knowledge that residential schools have had a long term intergenerational effect.
—@tagaq

#MyReconciliationIncludes not calling the outcomes of genocide and colonialism "native problem/issues".
—@laurareidtweets

#MyReconciliationIncludes understanding that Treaty lands are still unceded territories.
—@apihtawikosisan

Even Justice MurraySinclair, the chair of the TRC, tweeted about his personal reconciliation view.

#MyReconciliationIncludes a granddaughter proud to be Anishinaabe.
—@Sincmurr

Others acknowledged that the Inuit and Mtis have been left out of the TRC process.

#MyReconciliationIncludes recognizing many indigenous ppls excluded from Indian Residential School settlement; everyone deserves justice
—@madinuk

People talkedabout who and whatthe reconciliation process includes.

#MyReconciliationIncludes You
—@WabKinew

#MyReconciliationIncludes Action from all Canadians
—@withonespirit

And the non-indigenous community responded.

Can you see the love and connection made when being inducted as an Honorary Witness? #MyReconciliationIncludes us all pic.twitter.com/8HlnGGN6O6
—@ClaraHughes_

#MyReconciliationIncludes the acknowledgement that, as a prairie farmer, I've benefitted from the theft of Cree and Blackfoot territory.
—@Stuthefarmer

There were also several pleas to never forget the legacy of residential schools in Canada.

#MyReconciliationIncludes people to stop asking, "Why can't you just get over it?"
—@RavenFNMI

#MyReconciliationIncludes teaching new Canadians, and all generations of settlers, the truth of the Canadian residential schools tragedy.
—@KennChaplin

#MyReconciliationIncludes teaching my students that it WAS in fact, a GENOCIDE. We can not hide our shameful past behind semantics.
—@Ms_Luksy

What does your reconciliation look like? Tweet us at CBC_Aboriginal with the #MyReconciliationIncludes.

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