“It begins with a vision of reconciliation and measuring all that we do against whether it will allow us to meet that vision.” – Senator Murray Sinclair, Chief Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Office of the Treaty Commissioner has developed a common agenda/vision for truth and reconciliation in the Treaty territories of Saskatchewan, built from the ground up by Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
Through collective impact we can improve lives by: facilitating a vision for the future that everyone can agree on; building a shared framework for measuring progress towards that change; and improving relationships, collaboration and communication to better implement our intentions.
The OTC's Vision for Truth and Reconciliation through Treaty Implementation began with the input of 400 Saskatchewan leaders from over 70 organizations, in eight different gatherings held in five communities in 2015-16; Each of these gatherings used slightly different ways to get participants to imagine and describe a reconciled Saskatchewan. See the process.
Then the OTC collected feedback on the first draft from 480 residents of Saskatchewan in 2016-17.
The second draft was revised with input from Indian Residential School Survivors and Knowledge Keepers, as well as Regina, Saskatoon, and Heart of Treaty 6 Reconciliation groups (with 146 organizations represented), from December 2017 to August 2018. Revisions and community input continued until April 2019.
Based on this visioning work, the OTC is also developing tools for communities and organizations to map out, measure and learn from their truth and reconciliation efforts. Across Saskatchewan we have seen Coalitions of Champions emerge, forming reconciliation collectives that use these tools to work towards bettering lives for everyone in their communities.
All of this work contributes to action, coordination and innovation in communities across the province. The OTC has developed a plan to build on these successes and scale the model out across the Treaty territories of Saskatchewan. It involves an investment into:
♦ growing local community capacity for relationship-building, coordination, and local history exploration.
♦ evaluating progress on reconciliation, in order to promote action and joint learning.
