19 Recommendations (from https://www.standcanada.org/truth-reconciliation-commission-report-summary/)
Calls to Action
- Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments must fully adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation
- Federal government must develop a national action plan, strategies, and other concrete measures to achieve the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Government on behalf of Canadians must develop Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation to be issued by the Crown, in consultation with Aboriginal communities
- 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
- Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments must repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous peoples and lands (Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius) and must reform those laws, policies, and litigation strategies that rely on such concepts.
- Church parties to the Settlement Agreement, and all other faith groups who have not already done so, must formally adopt and comply with the principles, norms, and standards of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Religious denominations and faith groups who have not already done so must repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples (Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius)
- Federal government, with Aboriginal collaboration, must fund the establishment of Indigenous law institutes for the development, use, and understanding of Indigenous laws and access to justice
- Federal Government, obligated by its fiduciary responsibility, must develop a policy of transparency by publishing legal opinions it develops and upon which it acts or intends to act, in regard to the scope and extent of Aboriginal and Treaty rights
- Aboriginal title claims are accepted once the Aboriginal claimant has established occupation over a particular territory at a particular point in time, and once Aboriginal title has been established, the burden of proving any limitation on any rights arising from the existence of that title shifts to the party asserting such a limitation
- Parliament of Canada, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, must enact legislation to establish a National Council for Reconciliation. It must be an independent, national, oversight body
- Federal Government must provide multi-year funding for the National Council for Reconciliation to ensure that it has the financial, human, and technical resources required to conduct its work
- All levels of government must provide annual reports or any current data requested by the National Council for Reconciliation so that it can report on the progress towards reconciliation
- Prime minister of Canada must formally respond to the report of the National Council for Reconciliation by issuing an annual “State of Aboriginal Peoples” report, and outline the government’s plans for advancing the cause of reconciliation
- Federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments must provide education to public servants on the history of Aboriginal peoples
- Pope to issue an apology to Survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children in Catholic- run residential schools
- Church parties to the Settlement Agreement must develop ongoing education strategies to ensure that their respective congregations learn about their church’s role in colonization
- Leaders of the church parties to the Settlement Agreement and all other faiths, in collaboration with Indigenous organizations, must develop on the need to respect Indigenous spirituality, the history of residential schools and the roles of the church parties in that system… and the responsibility that churches have to mitigate such conflicts and prevent spiritual violence
- Church parties to the Settlement Agreement must establish permanent funding for Aboriginal people
Progress to Date
From CBC News Interactive “Beyond 94” : https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform-single/beyond-94?&cta=70
Click on the image to go to the interactive graph and see the most recent progress.
