TRC Calls to Action: #46

Reconciliation
Royal Proclamation and Covenant of Reconciliation

46. We call upon the parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to develop and sign a Covenant of Reconciliation that would identify principles for working collaboratively to advance reconciliation in Canadian society, and that would include, but not be limited to: 

 i. Reaffirmation of the parties’ commitment to reconciliation.

ii. Repudiation of concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius, and the reformation of laws, governance structures, and policies within their respective institutions that continue to rely on such concepts.

iii. Full adoption and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation.

iv. Support for the renewal or establishment of Treaty relationships based on principles of mutual recognition, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for maintaining those relationships into the future. 

v. Enabling those excluded from the Settlement Agreement to sign onto the Covenant of Reconciliation. 

vi. Enabling additional parties to sign onto the Covenant of Reconciliation.

As of yet, no Covenant of Reconciliation has been created, but many Churches party to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement have voiced their support of the Calls to Action, and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius. So, while Beyond 94 considers this Call "Not Started," they do concede that some progress has been made.