Early August during a two-weeks orientation program at UBC, I was introduced to an event called “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” (TRC) by a third-year student majoring in the First Nations studies. I was a complete foreigner of this, however, two vocabularies struck me: “Truth” and “Reconciliation”. These triggered me to take interest then I started to question: What wrongs did they do? Who did this? What was their motive? What do they mean by “reconciliation”?
Last Wednesday on the 18th of September, UBC suspended all classes and gave opportunities to students to attend “TRC” events. So I headed towards “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” event at the Pacific National Exhibition. Though I have only participated for a few events from late morning to mid-afternoon, I felt privileged to be a participant of this truly inspiring event.
The overall experience was emotional because of hearing the stories of pain and suffering; residential students were separated from their family, they lost and felt ashamed of their own cultural identity, confused of who they were and some questioned their existence. However, at the same time, it was inspiring and empowering as the “Young People” showed potential signs of hope.
In the Coliseum a sub-event called “Be the Change: Young People Healing the Past & Building the Future” felt the most connecting to me. There were four young multicultural individuals who were born and raised in Canada including a Native, Japanese-Canadian, Chinese-Canadian and an Iranian-Canadian. Each of them shared stories of their parents’ and their ancestor’s cultures and how it supported them to whom they are today. They also shared their personal views on Truth and Reconciliation Commission. For me, this was the highlight, as I felt more engaged by hearing their opinions, seeing their body gestures, emotions and their thoughts from a people of our age point of view and how empowering their conversations were.
The talk began by a twenty-something aboriginal, Kim; her story began by her childhood years. She and her sister were the only aboriginals in her schools. She was confused and question herself “Who am I? What is my identity?” This part particularly struck me because as a young child who would have questioned this. As for me, I have lived abroad for eleven years and I do not think that I have every thought about my cultural identity. I grew up in a Korean family but in two different countries. So I never had the chance to educate myself of my own culture and this is something important for anyone. It is important to know where you are coming from because that is the origin and that is where cultural identity rises.
This question, “What does reconciliation mean to you?” has a very simple answer, but it might be an important one as well. Every individual has his or her own views on “reconciliation”. For me, reconciliation means to know your past, accept the truth and eventually forgive without anger or hatred. There is a lot to add for my definition of “Reconciliation” and the following two young individuals who spoke at the panel during the event has more or less completed my understanding of “reconciliation”.
To Kim, reconciliation means truth, education, and knowledge in practice, understanding what happened to you and who you are. By truth she means understanding the truth and educating young people of what happened in the past to the students in residential schools. She further emphasized that reconciliation is a “verb” which means to take action, in my opinion “TRC” itself is a big step towards the progress of seeking Truth and Reconciling. Finally, Kim mentions the key aspect of reconciliation is the “relationship” that connects the land and the people of Canada, which then builds respect and forms a community.
The second “Young People” speaker is a student here at UBC. Her definition of “reconciliation” defines as “know where you come from and where you are going to” and develop intercultural aspects and question yourself “What does your community mean?” “Begin by finding your community”.
I find this a powerful way of expressing what reconciliation is. Seeing how people of our generation can view world with such optimistic and hopeful future, I find it empowering and potential having a vision for a better future in Canada. These responses not only gave me the knowledge of this particular event but also gave me the opportunity to think about my culture. For example, Kim mentioned understand what happened to you and understand who you are. Living outside of my home country more than half of my life, I have poor knowledge of the Korean culture and language.
I was truly inspired and feel grateful by Truth and Reconciliation Commission by hosting this event “Be the Change: Young People Healing the Past & Building the Future”. It gave me a sense of connection, engagement and not only have I gained an insight to the Canadian culture but also a chance to reflect on my cultures as well. I would always start and refer back to the definition of “reconciliation” of the two “Young People” speakers of “finding my own community” and “knowing who I am”. The Truth and Reconciliation event has educated people of all ages and gave us a deeper and a solid understanding of one of the most important chapter in Canadian History.