Reconciling with First Nations - a four part series from the Fraser Valley, BC
The Tyee - Reconciling with First Nations series
Award winning writer Sandra Shields reports on how Aboriginals and non-natives are working out new relationships -- and grappling with old injustices -- in classrooms, timber forests, and negotiating rooms of the Fraser Valley. Shields wanted to see how First Nations people in British Columbia might achieve a more just and equitable relationship with the descendents of their European colonizers.
She emerged from the process cautiously hopeful, sensing "a lightening" in relations, "at least provincially" - but at the same time saying, "This is really just the beginning."
"People who are experts in reconciliation talk about the need to be clear about what really happened, to find ways to address injustice, to root it out, to find ways of sharing power differently. That's generations of work," says Shields. "Thank god we are embarking on it, but there is a lot of work ahead of us and it will require an enduring commitment on all parts."
This special four part series is funded by a Tyee Fellowship for Solutions Reporting.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Beyond 'Teepees and Igloos' Reconciling with First Nations begins in the classroom.
Part 3:
Sharing the Forests - In new timber deals, what are First Nations really getting?
Series Background information: