September 16-22 is Reconciliation Week in Vancouver, wrapping up with the Walk for Reconciliation on Sunday the 22nd. BC Director Seth Klein and other CCPA staff will be joining the walk, and we'd love to have a group of CCPA members and friends walking with us. Please meet us outside the doors of the Vancouver Public Library (the Georgia Street side) between 9:00 and 9:15. Find our more about the Walk and register here.
Message from Seth
When I think about what reconciliation means, I remember these words from Cindy Blackstock, a Gitxsan activist for child welfare and Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada: Reconciliation means not having to say you're sorry, twice. What, in practice, does that mean for us today? For starters, I think it means seeking to make right the overrepresentation of First Nations children in state care, and the underfunding of Aboriginal education. It means figuring out how to truly honour Aboriginal rights and title in policy and resource development. And it also applies to our work challenging tar sands production and gas fracking — we don't want to look back on this time and the destruction of peoples' territories, and have to apologize once again for our failure to listen.
I'd also like to hear your thoughts about what reconciliation could mean for the CCPA's work.