Approaching reconciliation: Tips from the field.

The forced removal of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children from their families to residential schools for over 120 years presents a complex and challenging legacy for all Canadians to deal with. This past spring, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its final report and recommendations regarding residential schools and reconciliation, following six years of information gathering and public discussions across the country. 1 The TRC proceedings are particularly poignant for public health professionals – and not solely because the schools violated almost every basic principle of public health, sanitation, and healthy child development. More immediate and pressing are the ongoing health inequities currently experienced by Indigenous peoples in Canada and the direct attribution of these health inequities by the TRC to government policies of cultural genocide. These policies legitimated not only residential schools, but also the appropriation of Indigenous lands, forced community relocations, the replacement of Indigenous governments, and the outlawing of our spiritual practices. In the words of the TRC, the release of its report and its calls to action represents " a rare second chance to seize a lost opportunity for reconciliation…. At stake is Canada's place as a prosperous, just, and inclusive democracy within that global world. " 1 (pp. 6–7) So how does one make sense of the compelling and disturbing narratives contained in the TRC reports and engage in actively redressing the legacy of cultural genocide and advancing the process of reconciliation? The TRC defines reconciliation as the " ongoing process of establishing and maintaining respectful relationships ". 1 It also recognizes that reconciliation can mean different things to different people and that it is important to respect these different understandings. Respect for different ways of understanding and living is at the core of any reconciliation activity. The complexity of entrenching this respect into action in all that we do should not be underestimated. We must challenge and transform the foundational disrespect for Indigenous ways of knowing and doing that was used to justify colonial policies and is persistently embedded in our laws, schools, health systems and unconscious minds. Clearly there is no simple or singular approach to showing respect. As a Métis woman actively engaged in practically bridging the worlds of public health and those of the Indigenous communities and organizations with whom I am fortunate to work, in what follows I humbly offer four " field tips " for those of …