Reconciliation
Reconciliation has become an important buzz word in Canada in the last few years. Rightfully so, it is the process of bearing witness to and, ultimately, overcoming the past injustices that First Nations throughout the country have endured for countless generations so that they can take their rightful place in Canadian society. After all, this was, and continues to be, their land on which we are all living!
It is, by far, the biggest challenge facing Canadian society for the next generation.
How do we achieve reconciliation?
This is not an easy question to answer, and no one act will address the many wrongs that our ancestors have done, and which we in many ways continue to perpetuate.
Resources are usually the first reason that outsiders take an interest in First Nations land. This will not change in the future. However, reconciliation means that the role that First Nations communities themselves play in this process must change. Central to this is governance and self-determination. The decision of how, when and which resources can be exploited over the landscape is fundamental to any nation’s ability to assume control over their territory. Contrary to what many people allude to, it is not about a community’s right to exert a veto over a project (although that right should indeed exist), but more about their ability to have a say in the process of elaborating a development project, such that it does not cause irrevocable damage to their environment, their health and their cultural identity. As this reality is becoming more and more commonplace, we are seeing that First Nations are not an obstacle to development, but in fact positive forces and allies…. They are resources in their own right! That is, so long as things are done well, so long as they are at the forefront in the design and operationalization of the project, there is no reason to believe that development on First Nations lands cannot occur in the future.
Conseil Sym Consulting is a firm dedicated to contributing to this process.