Reconciliation Sharing-Circle

Thank you, miigwetch, to everybody who attended our July 3rd canoe workshop! It was a wonderful afternoon of sharing and learning, featuring an opening ceremony, educational videos on biosphere reserves and invasive species, and a nature walk on the William Commanda trail. One of the most successful portions of our event was the sharing circle on reconciliation. We asked attendees to tell us what reconciliation meant to them, providing us with a wealth of informative and insightful responses.

This was an amazing realization of our event's main goal—to build relationships and a sense of understanding between local Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Check out the responses!

Understanding & action.
Learning about our history.
Collaboration.
Integrating all our histories into our teachings.
Abolition of private property.
Honouring responsibilities, and respect for different ways of knowing.
Sharing our individual strengths & learning to become a human family.
Listening.
Forgiveness.
Respect.
Being mindful.
Understanding.
One people.
Responsibility to the land.
Healing, respect for all creation.
Learning.
Role modelling for friends & family.
Passing positive messages to children.
Love & compassion.
Questioning ownership of land.
Sharing based on local needs as beginning steps.
Rewriting our history together.
Telling stories of people & land.
Treaties signed and those to come.
Communication, understanding of different ways of living on land.
Respect differences.
Communicate & speak frankly.
Respect for First peoples’ values, and respect for land as not just a source of resources.
Open minds—hearing stories, changing behaviours.
Listening to stories of trauma with love.
Educating ourselves.
Connecting with our hearts, with empathy & gratitude.
New ways of communicating with youth & adults.
Restitution & respect, giving back what was taken (land, cultural materials).
Reclaiming, passing on to children.
Complex, deep, hard to get one's head around it.
Every aspect of society has been colonized.
Nation to nation—learning to respect both ways of living, and drawing on the strengths of both.
Energy of new generations.
Can there be reconciliation? Hopeful for future generations.
Learning, sharing, understanding, nation-to-nation, common goals.
Following the Creator's original instructions.

Plenty Canada’s event in Lanark county was an act of reconciliation itself, and an important step to further the broader goal of reconciliation throughout Canada. Being able to come together in a spirit of mutual respect and understanding brings us all closer to building a nation that respects the rights of all communities, future generations, and the land we love.