Reconciliation workshop marks ‘new beginning’

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This article was published 14/06/2022 (1356 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A series of workshops is training City of Brandon staff about building relationships through the process of truth and reconciliation.

Around 60 city workers participated in the Circles for Reconciliation workshop Tuesday at the Keystone Centre. The training event facilitated conversations via the Winnipeg-based organization Circles for Reconciliation in an all-day session organized by the Brandon Urban Aboriginal Peoples’ Council (BUAPC).

The initiative was launched to foster conversations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, said city manager Ron Bowles.

“Understanding the truth helps us as a society to work towards reconciliation,” he said.

He cited the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action and the need for federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments to provide education to public servants on the history of Indigenous peoples, including the legacy of residential schools, using skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights and anti-racism.

The workshop marked the second of four planned training exercises for City of Brandon staff.

In May, the City of Brandon management team attended a presentation by Tim O’Loan, a former adviser to Murray Sinclair, who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Staff will also be volunteering during Truth and Reconciliation Week in September and online courses will potentially be made available later in the year to all city employees.

The workshops are designed to help city staff understand the longstanding impacts of inter-generational trauma, along with the effects of residential schools and the ’60s Scoop on Indigenous cultures and communities.

Bowles said he hopes staff who attended the event can take what they have learned and start meaningful conversations with their family, friends, co-workers and the larger community. He said the knowledge and awareness gained will hopefully lead to organic changes in Brandon.

“If one person understands where somebody’s past had brought them, how it’s brought them to here; if one person has awareness of what’s happening in our community, then this was all worth it,” Bowles said.

It was a significant step for the city to learn about and share Indigenous experiences through the power of raw emotions, said BUAPC chair Jeanine Pelletier.

“These are lived experiences that we had,” Pelletier said. “We need to have a voice.”

She said she hopes to see initiatives continue to grow and praised City of Brandon management and councillors for their “genuine care” for fostering reconciliation at the municipal level.

“We’re building friendships and connections for non-Indigenous and Indigenous people,” Pelletier said.

The workshops embodied the practice of working together to create a better future, she said, adding that it was a powerful experience because each person in attendance will be helping carry forward the practice of healing and reconciliation.

“I’m so incredibly proud of Brandon,” Pelletier said. “I’m going to go home today feeling proud and honoured that I’m part of this and part of our community.”

Guest speaker Eugene Ross detailed the daily impacts of living with the trauma of residential schools. Ross shared his experiences of being a third-generation residential school survivor and talked about how the effects of the institutions remain alive in contemporary society.

It was a learning opportunity providing participants with a “brief light into the window” of the challenges many Indigenous people face every day.

“There is racism and things. These are challenges that we face in today’s world that we live in,” Ross said. “To educate people at that level, I think it’s a really good eye-opener, it’s a new beginning.”

Shannon Saltarelli, a workshop participant and the city’s community housing and wellness co-ordinator, described the day as an insightful and instructive experience.

One of her key takeaways was the need to break down barriers in the community, she said, especially because they have largely been erected by non-Indigenous people.

“I have to be able to break [those barriers] down and create new relations with people in order to earn that trust because I have done nothing to earn their trust,” Saltarelli said. “Days like today help me to understand how I can have those conversations.”

The Circles for Reconciliation Workshop was a unique event for Brandon, said Lisa Noctor, co-ordinator for Brandon GAP youth outreach program that addresses youth homelessness prevention through the Brandon Friendship Centre.

As an Ojibway woman, some of the conversations were heavy and difficult, she said, but they were essential dialogues to open up.

“This is some of the hard parts and you can’t proser without difficulty,” Noctor said. “You cannot prosper without challenge. I think that if some of our non-Indigenous allies now take these things … back to their departments, their committee groups and their boardrooms and they utilize what they came here today for then it’s a good start.”

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