Calls continue

Hello! It’s October, delightfully, and we’ve resolved to get out regularly to enjoy the changing leaves. So far, on a good track in that direction.

Friday marked the country’s second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Actions can take many forms—from learning, to donating, to advocating for changes in your local community. Of the 94 calls to action, the number deemed complete varies from 11 to 17—depending who you ask. (Check out the section explaining where CBC, Yellowhead, and Indigenous Watchdog each fall on the CTAs deemed complete by the federal government; the reasons for difference tell you a lot about what “deemed complete” means in practice.)

The Yellowhead Institute produces yearly reports on Calls to Action Accountability, a powerful accounting because of the analysis it adds to its review. As the 2021 report notes, all three calls to action completed last year came in the month of June, “following the discovery of 215 unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School … more action on the Calls to Action in three weeks than the last three years”.

This suggests that action is possible (three CTAs in one month!), but that action doesn’t happen absent political pressure (three CTAs in… three years). The need for justice—for love in public, as Cornel West calls it—remains as strong as ever, if we (we who are not Indigenous) can heed the call to demand action, and to act where we can.

It’s time to make some calls. All the best for the week ahead.

Lucas