RECONCILIATION: MOVING FORWARD TOGETHER - SUPPORTING RECONCILIATION
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“truly acknowledging the strength, skills and resilience Indigenous communities bring rather than viewing them as being helpless” (BC Housing Staff). Furthermore, we also heard that BC Housing should continue to engage in dialogue and consultation with Indigenous Nations, communities, and organizations. However, as a couple of staff pointed out, BC Housing should also find ways to involve Indigenous communities more meaningfully as decision-makers. They emphasized that giving Indigenous peoples decision- making authority requires more than inviting them to participate in engagement, consultations, and discussions. It involves inviting them to take the lead on decisions (e.g., in drafting housing program frameworks). As one staff member suggests,
“The attitude I would like to see is that we are helping to bring in housing expertise, but it is the community who makes the key decisions and identifies what their needs are. – BC Housing Staff Member
Another recommendation noted by some staff was to adopt or modify the organization’s business practices, including mandatory training in cultural humility and sensitivity, implementing standardized practices of giving territorial acknowledgements, and creating a meeting space that would encourage reflection and thoughtful decision-making. With respect to the territorial acknowledgement, one respondent stressed that it needs to be consistent and that there needs to be a genuine intent behind it. They commented on an instance where someone within the organization acknowledged the wrong Nation during an internal meeting, and it went unnoticed by other staff. Reflecting on this experience, this staff member elaborated: “I think there needs to be more understanding and education for our staff on the history behind whose traditional lands we are actually on. If it was a situation where there were Indigenous people in the room, would they have been offended? If it is done incorrectly it does come across as ignorant and possibly disrespectful, so we really need to know what we are saying, why we are saying it, and what is the meaning behind it – it shouldn’t just be a check box exercise. – BC Housing Staff Member One respondent stated the overarching systemic aspects of Canadian society do not allow for self-determination for Indigenous communities. This is an important comment and means that BC Housing should look at all of its internal processes to assess colonial aspects of their culture and operational practices. One respondent suggested that BC Housing consider developing an external committee of Indigenous representatives to inform decision-making processes and work together to identify the top priorities and needs of Indigenous Nations, communities, and organizations across the province. We heard from one staff member that BC Housing’s reconciliation efforts might be a little misguided if they are not actively trying to restore what has been historically been taken away from Indigenous peoples. This is a significant statement and needs to be looked at in the scope of BC Housing’s role and mandate. Key questions will need to be addressed with
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