On the morning of October 20th I was fortunate to be in attendance at the CAEM PD at Glenlawn Collegiate for Phil Fontaine’s keynote speech. He spoke of history, both Canada’s and his own, and of reconciliation. His thoughts on the latter really struck me. He is troubled by what seems a flippant use of the term “reconciliation” by politicians and the mass media–that reconciliation has become a buzzword, of sorts, often devoid of meaning and, more importantly, action.

Education is a field rife with buzzwords, but how do we, as educators, strip away all the fluff surrounding such a word and get to the heart of it in some meaningful way? Reconciliation, to me, is perhaps the single most crucial issue facing our country, and it is our students to whom the mantle will be passed. But how do we pass this mantle? How do we teach reconciliation in a meaningful way, without reducing it to just another buzzword?

Mr. Fontaine described reconciliation as “the meeting of minds over time.” For me, this implies empathy and understanding: listening to all of our stories, asking questions, and finding a way forward together. But still the question remains: how? Furthermore, as one of my students recently asked, how will we know when reconciliation is done? There’s no easy answer. There shouldn’t be. But Mr. Fontaine did offer more clarity. He sees two necessary conditions that must be met before true reconciliation is achieved. One: that Indigenous poverty be “eradicated;” and two: that the Indigenous peoples of Canada be formally and officially recognized as founders of Canada, along with the English and French. From this last point he issued all the educators in the room a challenge: write to your local MP advocating for this official recognition. This is a challenge I will pass on to my students. But first it’s important they learn about what happened here in Canada, and Canada’s upcoming 150th anniversary of confederation is a perfect entry point for our inquiry. A burning question in my mind is: why weren’t the Indigenous peoples offered a seat at the “confederation table?” I can’t wait to hear what kinds of questions my students have….

Anyways, what I took from Mr. Fontaine’s speech is that reconciliation is about a commitment to the process. This process is about taking risks, stepping outside our comfort zones, shining a light on our prejudices and our privileges, making mistakes and learning from them, listening to and learning from the perspectives of others, respecting each other and having compassion for each other. It’s about thinking critically about our place in the world, our way of life, our History. It’s about so much more that I’m yet aware of. It’s a process. If we can’t commit to this process, Canada, I fear, is at risk of becoming a buzzword itself, devoid of meaning. To ensure this doesn’t happen, I posit the following: we define “Canada” the same way Mr. Fontaine defines “reconciliation”: as “the meeting of minds over time.”