Talking, listening and learning on the road to reconciliation

It’s conference season.

Between teaching classes and writing in this space, I’ve been on the road for weeks, speaking, listening and learning.

Iqaluit, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Montréal. More times in Toronto than I care to admit. And, right now, I’m in Coquitlam, B.C.

Right now, reconciliation is underway in many places in this country. In others, Indigenous peoples and Canadians are coming together and talking — for the first time — at events and meetings.

For the first time in Canadian history, we’re making an effort to work together meaningfully — in places such as hospitals, businesses, law firms, offices and schools.

So, in convention halls, conference rooms and community centres from coast to coast to coast, people are meeting and talking.

The reality for most people in this country is that our parents and grandparents never interacted or learned about one another. Worse, many were indoctrinated into seeing each other as impossibly different.

The residue of this legacy, in fact, still infects us all. Change is difficult, but necessary.

Canada’s economy will never realize its potential without the involvement of Indigenous nations.

The benefit of working co-operatively with Indigenous cultures and communities will, hopefully, mean that we will save the environment together before capitalism, competitiveness and individuality kill us all.

There has already been a significant shift.

According to a 2025 Leger poll, 44 per cent of Canadians think governments “should be doing more on reconciliation,” and 64 per cent of Canadians say they “are more aware today of the history and treatment of Indigenous peoples than they were four or five years ago.”

More than two-thirds of Canadians (69 per cent) say they “better understand why reconciliation is important for both Indigenous peoples and country as a whole.” Nearly half (46 per cent) expressed “frustration at the slow pace of progress.”

In the poll, an overwhelming amount of data suggests this change is happening to a greater extent among younger Canadians; their parents and grandparents are more resistant.

So there’s much more work to do.

In the spaces where Indigenous peoples and Canadians are speaking, sharing and working together — often for the first time — I’m learning a few things.

It’s important for all to remember that first-time or early conversations in any relationship require firmness and clarity but also gentleness and understanding.

Every Canadian and every Indigenous person has a history and context that accompany them in meetings. History is always in the room.

But no one has a monopoly on history, so it’s impossible to speak about the present and future until we share all of its parts, especially the ones that have been kept from us.

Hearing truth, though, is very difficult. It takes time, energy and commitment.

Remember that reconciliation isn’t found in how we agree, though, but in how we disagree and stick together anyway.

One of the most difficult things I witness is in discussions that uncover how power and privilege is always bestowed onto some, and not others.

Attitudes, perspectives and beliefs have always created laws, systems and institutions that treat people different in this country. Talking about them isn’t a condemnation, it’s a call to action.

It takes bravery to talk about the different directions Canadians and Indigenous peoples come from, so we all have to remember to listen more than we speak and be open to learn from what we hear.

We also should do our own work to learn about the colleagues, relations and friends we now share space with. No one should be expected to educate others on everything that has happened in this country; no one knows it all.

There is always more to learn.

This is why we must create welcoming environments for everyone. Give each other gifts of welcome, acknowledge one another and the land we are on. Recognize the immense power and intellect of the elders and leaders from all of our communities.

Thank them for helping us arrive here.

And, alongside sharing our time and space, we must centralize ways to find joy. This is why offering one another food, stories and visions of what tomorrow might look like is crucial.

There is a lot of personal risk in admitting we are all learning.

Sometimes the words of others may feel like criticism or blame and lead to emotional responses, so we must build our capacity to see the bigger picture.

Because, in the end, all of this work is for future generations.

Know that what we are doing in now runs counter nearly 150 years of Canadian policy and practice; our personal needs should take a back seat to those of our children and grandchildren.

These are just a few thoughts I have before travelling to another conference, another conversation and another opportunity to create a country different than the one we inherited.

It’s happening more often than any time before.

niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca