Truth Before Reconciliation

18/12/2025

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Truth and Reconciliation Day feels different this year.

I want to speak from the heart and hope my words land with those who understand.

Last year I wore my orange shirt and shared facts from the TRC reports. My post started circulating online with accounts filled with residential school denialism and outright racism. I was met with death threats and hate. That experience showed me how far we still have to go.

A year later I see it more clearly. Some of it is lack of education, but much of it is rooted in deep stereotypes and the ongoing desire to colonize and erase us. And what terrifies me most is that the fight is not only with those outside our people. It is also with the systems our own people sometimes create that mirror suppression and oppression.

Imagine our ancestors, who fought to survive, watching us ban our own from participating in our governments and events. Watching funds mismanaged. Watching abusers celebrated as motivational speakers. Watching matriarchs and elders protect those causing harm. Watching us stay silent while non-Indigenous folks bulldoze over us with our own communities. Creating industries built off our pain.

Friends, we can’t continue this way. Every year we put in the emotional labour to educate, to remind, to wear orange. But truth and reconciliation will not simply find us. We have to fight for it. Fight like our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren depend on it. Because they do.

Let’s flip the table. Let’s heal. Let’s disrupt harmful systems. Let’s stand together. Let’s demand better representation. And when those who are tasked with representing us fall short, we must tell them they are either in or in the way.

Reconciliation cannot exist without truth.
Truth must come with justice.
Justice only exists when we are brave enough to do the right thing.

Today we honour the children who suffered.
We honour the children who never came home.
We honour the survivors who told their stories.
We honour those who are gone, who left us with generations worth fighting for.

Our children are watching.

16/12/2025

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Kisâkihitinawâw, relatives…
I want to speak to this in a good way — not to fight, not to shame, but to bring clarity where the world prefers noise.

I see many strong words being shared about “pretendians.”
Some of it is true.
Some of it is medicine.
And some of it… carries a sharpness that can wound the very people we are trying to protect.

In our old laws — wâhkôhtowin, miyo-wîcêhtowin — identity was never proven through aggression, nor through public spectacle.
Identity was lived.
It was relational.
It was known through the footsteps a person left on the land, and the way their relatives spoke their name.

Asking someone, “Who are your people?” is our governance.
We have always done that.

But the moment we begin speaking from anger, from ego, or from performance, we stop protecting the circle and start feeding the very colonial wounds we say we are fighting.

I have lived long enough to see many kinds of voices rise — some loud, some soft, some carrying truth, some carrying pain disguised as authority.

Relatives…
Be careful when someone builds their platform on calling people out, on shaming, on stirring fires they never learned to tend in ceremony.
That is its own kind of identity politics — one that can hurt as deeply as the harm it claims to expose.

We must hold two truths at the same time:

1. Yes — Pretendians cause real harm.

They take resources, positions, trust, and space meant for our people.
Communities have the right — and the responsibility — to verify who belongs.

But also:

2. We must not become colonial in how we protect ourselves.

If our defense becomes dehumanization, humiliation, or cruelty, then we are walking the same road we warn others about.

Our ancestors taught us to be firm…
but they never taught us to be vicious.
They taught us to protect the lodge…
not to turn it into an arena.

Identity is sacred.
Identity is relational.
Identity is lived.

If someone is a fraud, communities will know.
They always have.
Our aunties, our Elders, our Nations — we have been vetting people long before Facebook, long before hashtags.

We don’t need to imitate the colonial courts of public opinion.
We have our own systems.
We have our own ways.

And I will say this gently:

When someone speaks with such aggression, such contempt, such eagerness to tear down — whether they are Indigenous, famous, or unknown — we must discern whether their words come from spirit or from ego.

Because true Indigenous leadership, real Nationhood, does not need to degrade anyone to protect itself.
It stands on truth, not hostility.
It stands on kinship, not spectacle.

êkwa — that is all I will say.
May we speak with the sharpness of clarity,
but also with the softness of responsibility.
May we walk the line between truth and compassion,
holding both like two sacred medicines in one hand.

That is the old way.

—Kanipawit Maskwa
ᑲᓂᐸᐏᐟ ᒪᐢᑿ

16/12/2025

Today marks 10 years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) released its final reports and the 94 Calls to Action. This moment is a powerful reminder of the devastating legacy of residential schools and the enduring strength and resilience of survivors and Indigenous peoples who are collectively impacted.

​The 94 Calls to Action are more than just recommendations; they are a specific list of actions for dismantling systemic injustices that continue to impact Indigenous peoples and a call for all peoples in Canada to take action. As we reflect on the work that remains unfinished, we need to acknowledge the urgent need for governments, institutions, and individuals to fulfill our collective responsibilities.

​This anniversary should not only be highlighted for remembrance, but as a renewed call for meaningful action. Only sustained effort, education, and accountability from all of us will help lead us out of the truth phase into reconciliation. Commit today to learning about the Calls to Action, advocating for their full implementation, and actively participating in building a just and equitable future for all.

Stay tuned in 2026 as we look to honor the 94 Calls to Action in our newest season to continue the truth telling process by spreading education and awareness and highlighting specific calls to inspire action! 🧡🧡🧡

09/11/2025

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05/11/2025

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Today we honour the memory of the Honourable Murray Sinclair (Mazina Giizhik-iban), whose passing one year ago left an unfillable void in our hearts and in the work of truth and reconciliation. At the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, we continue to feel his presence in every teaching shared and remembered, and every step taken toward justice. His wisdom, compassion, and unwavering commitment to Survivors continue to guide us. We will always miss him, and we will carry his legacy forward with the same courage and humanity he showed us every day.

05/11/2025

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30/10/2025

I appeared on Jessica Iron's podcast "Philanthropy" this past week to discuss Truth & ReconciliAtion and healing.. take a listen 🧡🧡

Tammy G Wolfe helps us to unpack the work that is needed for Truth Before Reconciliation and the 94 Calls to Action. She also discusses how the National Inqu...

28/10/2025

If you dont feel uncomfortable talking about Truth & Reconciliation, is it really truth and reconciliation? 🧡