On May 12-13
a gathering “Building Bridges Between
Canada’s Indigenous and Newcomer Groups” took place at Circle
of Life Thunderbird House in Winnipeg that brought together individuals,
community workers, artists, advocates, and academics keen to build relations
and understandings in the city. A small CBC piece on the event
has generated almost 400 shares. I want
to use this forum to offer further clarity on the origins of the meeting, a
summary of discussions, and possibilities moving forward.
The event was
originally conceived out of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s
funding call for grant proposals “Connecting for Canada’s
150th”. As
Canada approaches this grand birthday, discussion has swirled around what
precisely this marker celebrates, what it blurs, and what it ignores at a time
when reconciliation is both an ambition and a challenge. In the same moment, Canada is welcoming
refugees with targeted resettlement programs for Syrian and now Yazidi refugees and
struggling with its reaction to asylum seekers entering
irregularly from the United States.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada made specific Calls to
Action concerning Newcomers to Canada:
93. We call upon the federal government, in collaboration with the national Aboriginal organizations, to revise the information kit for newcomers to Canada and its citizenship test to reflect a more inclusive history of the diverse Aboriginal peoples of Canada, including information about the Treaties and the history of residential schools.94. We call upon the Government of Canada to replace the Oath of Citizenship with the following: I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada including Treaties with Indigenous Peoples, and fulfill my duties as a Canadian citizen.
It is also important for all Canadians to understand Canada’s
international obligations and domestic commitments to refugees. Thus with Canada’s 150th on
the horizon, it made sense to focus on
the oldest and newest inhabitants of the land that now makes up Canada and
their relationships with each other. For
me, thinking about these issues side by side raised questions on the meaning of
home. What does it mean to be home, to fight for your home, to lose your home,
to create a new home?
In a city
like Winnipeg, the physical homes of indigenous and newcomer groups are often
side by side in core neighbourhoods. I
am on the Board of Directors at the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization
of Manitoba (IRCOM). IRCOM has operated
an apartment building on Ellen Street since 1991 that offers transitional
housing to newcomers to Winnipeg in their first year of residence and extending
up to 3 years. The grand opening for IRCOM’s second location, on Isabel Street,
will take place next week on June 5, 2017.
IRCOM has sought to nurture strong indigenous – newcomer relations as a
strategic priority since 2015. As a
practical matter, hosting this gathering struck me as a way to support this
effort.
Participants came to the conference with a wealth of knowledge, working
relationships, and insight. The goal of
the event was to strengthen these connections, fill in gaps, and broaden the
reach of collaborations. We commenced
the first day with an opening prayer and the Kairos Blanket
Exercise as an active experience of the
historical and contemporary relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous
peoples in Canada and ended the day with a facilitated refugee myth-busting
exercise. On the second day we invited
speakers from across Canada working on similar bridge building and closed with
art, music and dance as a celebration. Robson Hall law students served as
attentive note-takers throughout the two days and a full report that hopes to
capture the diverse perspectives shared, the commonalities, misconceptions, and
points of conflict or contention in the panels will follow shortly.
It proved unnecessary to pursue funding through the SSHRC grant as the
University of Manitoba generously funded the event through the Legal Research
Institute, the Dean of Law, and the Conference Sponsorship Program. While I served as the lead organizer on
behalf of the Migration Law Research Cluster, the two days were planned through
collaboration with the National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (Aimée
Craft), the Faculty of Social Work (Regine King) and IRCOM (Shereen Denetto). Law students Madison Pearlman and Danielle
Morrison were hired to turn a proposal into a reality and worked closely with
Jessica Praznik from the Immigrant Centre Manitoba to navigate the logistical
details.
It is important to recognize the university’s role in the event as an
opportunity for outreach and relationship building as well. Rather than holding the event on campus, we
hosted the event at Thunderbird House to both bring the university to the
community and allow conference participants to familiarize themselves with the
space as well as the vision and principles tied to its construction. During the
conference we facilitated a “Skills and Knowledge Exchange Bank” where in the
listing of resources it was noted that academics are physical resources able to
provide information and insight. When
the Migration Law Research Cluster hosted an event focussed on “Building Connections: Refugee Research and Community Outreach” in 2014, issues were raised with respect to demands sometimes put on
NGOs to facilitate academic research and the lack of post research advocacy or
assistance. It has been an objective of
the MLRC from the outset to build knowledge and understanding and to foster
interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement through monthly noon
hour speakers, social media, and larger community conferences. The Building Bridges conference was both an
outgrowth of earlier events and itself a means to extend our own reach and connection
into the community. On behalf of the
MLRC, I invite you to keep the conversation going and be in touch with us. I look forward to what comes next!
