RECONCILIATION COAT

Reconciliation Coat

Last year I was gifted the most beautiful coat on Earth! It’s become synonymous with the Dolly Parton song “The Coat of Many Colours” that her mamma made for her. I love that song for all the reasons it was written, and I love this coat for all the reasons it needed to be made. I call it my reconciliation coat.

The issue of reconciliation has finally become front and center in all discussions relating to better understanding both indigenous and “whiteman” history dating back to before Confederation. The reality of those days were wrought with many unpleasant colours: trickery, malice and misunderstandings across the board. Did honour not matter. No.  Does honour still not matter?

A lot of people from both sides have no idea what really went down back then. Sadly some of them don’t want to know or they adopt the stereotype messaging that has shamed them and all of us deeply.  Others simply don’t care. The school curriculum up to recently has either been void of any information, or projected images or impressions that were slanted or just plain wrong. A lot of other people know about the wrongs but walk around with their heads in the sand, and don’t engage in, nor support, efforts to restore honour, pride and respect. 

Then there is the rest of civilized society who do know what went down “back then” and since “then”. They also do know what’s been going on behind the scenes, and feeling somewhat confident that more people are finally “getting it”, understanding it and embracing efforts to listen, learn and reconcile. 

Yes there will always be the skeptical, the angry and the naysayers on both sides of the coin. But, I am happy that the key players on both sides are at the table, and making progress. They are finally more serious than ever about acknowledging the treachery of foreign dominance, colonialism, and subsequent ongoing trickery and malice, and more determined than ever to enable a parallel peaceful humane existence — void of the evil of past ways.

When we actually look at some of the fabulous indigenous success stories in British Columbia — the Musqueam, the Burrard, the Osoyoos, the Gitxsan, Nisga’a, and Tsawwassen to name a few, I proudly wear the message on my sleeve. Together we can make it happen. Oh and yes … honour does matter.