Truth and Reconciliation Commitment

In the spirit of Reconciliation with the Lək’ ʷəŋən People in whose territory Oak Bay is located, I commit to:

1. Learn more about the priorities of the Songhees and Xwsepsum (Esquimalt) Nations, and what I can do to help build a more just future.

2. Learn more about the history, culture, practices, and use and occupation of this land by the Lək’ ʷəŋən People since time immemorial.

  • Songhees: To Work with Good Mind—Good Feelings, Songhees Nation, 2013
  • Lekwungen Place to Smoke Herring (Youtube)

3. Learn more about the impacts of colonialism on Indigenous peoples, including how the Lək’ ʷəŋən People were dispossessed of their land following European
contact.

  • Challenging Racist BC
  • 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, Bob Joseph, Page Two, 2018
  • To Share, Not Surrender: Indigenous and Settler Visions of Treaty-Making in the Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, Peter Cook et al, Eds., UBC Press, 2021
  • Makuk: A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations, John Sutton Lutz, UBC Press, 2008

4. Urge my local, provincial and federal elected representatives to make advancing Truth and Reconciliation a priority in substantive, and not just symbolic, ways.

5. Read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action. Find out how Canada is doing in fulfilling them on the CBC News website Beyond 94: Truth and Reconciliation in Canada

6. Become familiar with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 2019 BC Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

7. Take advantage of opportunities to learn more about the many Indigenous people living in Greater Victoria who are not from this territory, about the Native Friendship Centre movement, and about the experience of urban Indigenous people. 

8. Find ways to actively engage in National Indigenous Peoples Day every June 21 and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation every September 30.

THE RECONCILIACTION OAK BAY NETWORK GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THIS COMMITMENT IS INSPIRED BY THE PLEDGE IN 21 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT THE INDIAN ACT BY BOB JOSEPH.