Truth and Reconciliation
In October 2017 the Town of Canmore committed to advancing the Government of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) calls to action. To support this work administration presented a framework as a strategic starting point. The framework was designed to:
- Guide the municipality in advancing the process of Canadian reconciliation
- Strengthen right relations with our neighbours in the Stoney Nakoda Nation and other Treaty 7 and Metis Region 3 Indigenous peoples while respecting their right to heal
- Create a more culturally comfortable space to increase the level of inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in our community
Developed by a municipal working group, the framework identified key areas of work that Town of Canmore’s programs and services can support by incorporating the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation into our work. As starting point, the framework provided administration with permission to adapt, learn, and be open to new ways of working.
Read more about the pdf 2021 Update to Town of Canmore Commitments to Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action (236 KB)
Five of the 94 municipal Calls to Action directly call for municipalities to advance reconciliation:
Action 43
We call upon federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to fully adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation.
Action 47
We call upon federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous peoples and lands, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius, and to reform those laws, government policies, and litigation strategies that continue to rely on such concepts.
Action 57
We call upon federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to provide education to public servants on the history of Aboriginal peoples, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations. This will require skills based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.
Action 75
We call upon the federal government to work with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments, churches, Aboriginal communities, former residential school students, and current landowners to develop and implement strategies and procedures for the ongoing identification, documentation, maintenance, commemoration, and protection of residential school cemeteries or other sites at which residential school children were buried. This is to include the provision of memorial ceremonies and commemorative markers to honour the deceased children.
Action 77
We call upon provincial, territorial, municipal, and community archives to work collaboratively with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to identify and collect copies of all records relevant to the history and legacy of the residential school system, and to provide these to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
