Truth and Reconciliation  
CASLPO President’s Message to Council – September 30, 2021

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Today is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This is the first year that September 30th is being observed as a holiday for federally regulated businesses and organizations. Although the Ontario government has not introduced enabling legislation to make September 30 a statutory holiday within the province, it is important that all of us pause and reflect on the meaning of this day.

You will all have heard about the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC Commission) of Canada, published in June 2015. The Agreement provided compensation to students who attended 139 Canadian residential schools and residences. The federal government has estimated that 150,000 First Nation, Métis and Inuit students passed through this system, which was intended to “culturally transform” Indigenous children. This effort went on into the 1990s.

Here is what Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister, told the House of Commons in 1883: “Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training residential schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men”. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) stated this was all part of a “coherent policy to eliminate Aboriginal people as distinct peoples and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream against their will”.  

The TRC Commission was established as a component of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement which involved former students, their families, their communities, and Canadians, including the federal government.  The Commission spent six years travelling across Canada to speak with 6000 witnesses, many of whom had been taken from their families as children and had been forced to spend their childhoods in residential schools.  

There were 94 Calls to Action, or recommendations, made by the TRC Commission. I encourage you to review the final report (Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future). There is an Executive Summary highlighting the recommendations. The report points out that “getting to the truth was hard but getting to reconciliation will be harder. It requires that the paternalistic… foundations of the residential school system be rejected as the basis for an ongoing relationship”.  Reconciliation involves listening to the voices and experiences of Indigenous peoples.

The TRC made various recommendations regarding the health care sector. These include recognizing the distinct health needs of Indigenous peoples, increasing the number of Indigenous peoples working in the health care field, and requiring all students in medical and nursing schools to take a course dealing with Indigenous health issues, including the history and legacy of residential schools.

Now I want to spend a few moments reflecting on why the report is of particular relevance to CASLPO’s work as a regulator of speech-language pathologists and audiologists.  At CASLPO, we have been engaged in various activities that contribute to Reconciliation.   We have embarked upon some of this work by  

• revising our Land Acknowledgment, which included an educational session at Council during which we discussed the meaning of the land acknowledgment in relation to the history of Indigenous peoples in Canada, including treaties;  
• establishing an advisory group involving Indigenous persons and AUDs/SLPs who provide care in these communities so they may provide their input into the translation of College materials and other future projects;  
• identifying projects to implement the third strategic goal approved by Council, which was that CASLPO would “embody and promote the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion”; and
• maintaining a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) page on the website with relevant resources. One of them looks at issues in the B.C. health care system. (In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenous-specific Racism and Discrimination in B.C. Health Care).  

We have also recently become aware of some excellent learning opportunities.  Visit the DEI page to learn about Core Indigenous Cultural Safety Training (ICES)  ICES is an interactive online training program for all professionals working in health and social service systems administered by the Indigenous Primary Care Council.   I encourage you to look for opportunities to enhance your knowledge of these issues and to contribute to Reconciliation.  

I now invite us all to pause for a few moments to reflect on the meaning and purpose of Truth and Reconciliation Day and what we can do to further the ideals and proposals made by the Commission. 

Shari Wilson, President
College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario