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© OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA “TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION AND MY HOPE FOR THE FUTURE | BELIEVE THE 1ST z STEP IS @ CONVERSATION AND § LISTENING, WRITES = MIKE ASHKEWE What does Truth and Reconciliation mean to me? It's a hard question to answer, but it iti is one that I have been thinking about since I ate really em- bracing my Indigenous heritage and discovering my place within it. more, I refer you to the calls to action from the Truth and Recon: ciliation Commissic port https:, //shortutl at/ eontly, I was asked by the County of Wellington to participate at an event at ie Indigenous gathering circle t in Fergus and I had the privilege to work along- side some amazing individ- uals there. The event took place on National Indigenous Peo- ples Day, June 21. I worked MIKE (O'DAH ZIIBING/HEART OF THE RIVER) ASHKEWE Column alongside someone from a church who wanted to do their part in learning a healing alongside eae like myself, a police officer and the mayor of ton County. While we planted sacred medicines such as sweet- grass, tobacco and more, we started talking and that conversation came around to Truth and Reconcilia- tion and what do we do about that moving for- ward. There is no shortage of troubled history between Canada and its Indigenous people, and to say it's com- plicated is an understate- ment I look back on what has happened, and while some progress has been made, it's not unfair to say that not enough has hap- pened for many Indigenous people. I talked with my new- sight into what I think a fu- ture of Truth and Reconcil- iation looks like and how we get there. I believe the first step is conversation and listening; I mean really listening with more than just our ears but with our hearts as well. This sounds easy but isn't, as listening means that you hear all the griev- ances and problems, but, on the flip side of that, you hear the hopes, the dreams and ihe wishes for what a eether, the group of us planted that afternoon and we kept talking and lis- tening to each other. As we talked, I began to open up and shared some of what I want to see in the future in our communities and in each other. I shared this thought, our past doesn't have to be our future, we can build something greater togeth- er if we're willing to liste! talk, and work together to build something greater for all of us. Irecognize and mourn for all those who have been lost along the I know we can do some- thing beautiful for those who have yet to come and work together, so that those walking now have a hand in something that can last. One of the members of my group looked at me and said, "You're unbelievably oot eoat about all this, "Teo ied, “Yes, I am be- cause, despite everything, I believe in people and I be- lieve in our capacity to do somethingamazing togeth- " do believe in people, and I do believe in you to make the changes neces- sary for Truth and Recon- ciliation to happ be those who ‘lose hope and faith in what can be, but I also know that all that it takes is one person to be- lieve and fight for some- thing better. I know there are great allies out there because I have met you on the street, Reconciliation mean to me? Hope. that we can work together to learn from our past, to live in the present to do better and continue learning and, finally, that future is bright for every- one. Am I naive or stupid for believing in this? Maybe but I'd rather have hope it tomorrow can be better for all of us. Mike "O'dah ziibing/ Heart of the river" Ash- kewe is from Neyaashiinig- miing, Ont. Mike is a disa- bility and Indigenous ac- tivist in the city of Guelph. acareer in the media since 2007 ina variety of different roles such as commentator, porter and podcaste er. FAMILY REUNION mS HIGHLY ANTICIPATED ACTIVITY OPTIONS TURNED INTO AN EXERCISE IN HERDING CATS, WRITES GRAHAM HOOKEY ry GRAHAM HOOKEY Column Imissed writing my reg- anal most fans re- ular column recently, not ms, ours was highly intentionally, but more due anticipate, Food planning took place Potent about by a reunion for a month ahead of time; with ou three childre tickets for theatre and golf We live long distances from ace other, Bali, Van- 3 get-togethers are rare due to busy lives, conflicting schedules and limited re- sources for airplane tick- gets. waterloochronicle. rere booked well ahead; a long list of optional activi- ties was developed and, by gosh, we were just going to have a lot of fun. had have to halt there. We three boys, young men now, with very differ- ent personalities. Our home when they were young was always a brewing cauldron of testos- terone-charged rivalry, “youre+ -not-the-boss-of- e" cutbursts and varying days o! giances made and broken. The time went fast, for sure, but not with- out plenty of moments that seemed to drag on forever uu know, occasional aystinetio ional family dy- namics — the "norm" of most families I might sug- gest. The reunion started like all reunions do, lots of hug- ging and catcl hing up on things. By the second hour in, alliances were starting and the catching up was ing into the bringing up of ok old issues. Meal plans quickly fell to the side as the varying time zone schedules led to mstant grazing at all hours of the day and night. Activity options turned in- to an exercise in herding cats and there wasn't as much laughter as there was supposed to be. At one point, my and I turned to ach otner and acknowledged that while time had flown by for us as parents, not much had changed. Don't get me wrong, we're very proud of our sons. they're al’ independent. hard-working and, most of all, decent human beings. We could spend unlimited time with any of them, any- where, and be quite con- tent. But, together, they pose a different challenge, one which after seven days had pretty much burned us toa crisp. By the end of the third This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division ofthe Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants a wri Council Suite 20), to Nanae St, ronto, Phone: A16- 3A! 981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca nne | Aocna “Saat | Canada editorial@waterloochronicle.ca facebook.com/waterloochronicle @uichronicle WHO WE ARE Publisher and r Vice President, Editorial Lee Ann Waterman Metroland Editor-in-Chief Paul Berton Regional General Manager Nelson Parreira Advertising Representatives Jan Bodanka, Matt Miller, Lisa ae imphreys, Cassandra Del Managin g Editor Robyn Wilkinson ‘Online Editor Loraine Centeno Ned Bekavac Reporter Bill Jackson . day, the of the end of the reunion was greater than had been the anticipation of the begin- ning of it. Of course, our memo- ries will be short and we will soon long for another full reunion but, at them, can't live without them. Graham Hookey is the author of "Parenting Is A Team Sport" (Amazon books) and can be reached at ghookey@yahoo.com. 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