Tuesday (July 2nd) on unceded Algonquin Territory, the Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, issued a statement marking the coming into force of legislation to establish a national council for reconciliation.
The Act received Royal Assent on April 30th, and the National Council it establishes is linked to Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action 53 through 56.
The Council is to be a permanent, independent, non-political, broadly-based Indigenous-led organization respect the visions of Survivors.
Carol McBride, President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), says it’s about time.
The Council for Reconciliation’s membership will be announced shortly, but the elder and former Algonquin Nations Grand Chief says to include the Native Women’s Association required an early amendment, because NWAC, an organization that has been striving for the rights of Indigenous women and two-spirit persons for 50 years, was (inadvertently) left off the list by those who drafted it.
She says a proactive group with a track record such as NWAC deserves its place on the Council for Reconciliation.
Other Indigenous groups to be represented on the Council are as follows:
The inclusion of the four groups is mandatory.
Nine members of the new council will be designated by Anandasangaree, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations.
The Council for Reconciliation will monitor the implementation of Calls to Action across the country and receive annual reports from parliament and the Prime Minister.
The NWAC President says there are also performance expectations required of the new council
Minister Anandasangaree believes the process is consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and will hold the Government to account as we go forward.
McBride says the Council for Reconciliation will also keep everyone in Canada better informed.
In this way it is hoped to be a meaningful method of bringing cultures together, as a well-intended process has become mired in red tape.
There is a caveat. The NWAC President says it’s great to put together structures, but the best successes come when given adequate resources.
The Native Women’s Association of Canada- representing 50 years of advocacy, and ready to embrace the new forum for Reconciliation.
By Rick Stow
