City’s truth and reconciliation report unveiled

By COLLIN GALLANT on June 28, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

The City of Medicine Hat is now contemplating its own guidance on how to meet the recommendations laid out in the Truth and Recognition Commission report.

The city’s report, penned by an expanded community advisory board, was presented Monday including suggestions to provide city hall employees complete mandatory anti-racism training, promote local Indigenous history, protect local historic or archaeological sites, and task the police chief and police commission to provide its own plan.

It also calls for the city to support collecting and making available the stories of those residents who attended federal residential or day school facilities.

“There is that effect there wasn’t a residential school here, but there are in fact, day school survivors in our city,” said Katie Smith, a city council “vibrancy board” member and co-chair of the joint committee.

“Having a collection of those stories is an opportunity to recognize that.”

There was no official residential school in Medicine Hat (one was built but never operated) but early newspaper accounts describe Indigenous and Métis children leaving on trains for education. Federal day schools operated into the 1990s in Alberta.

The federal Truth and Reconciliation Commission published 94 “calls to action” in its 2015 final report into the residential school system, including request of municipal governments to consider the list and take their own actions.

Medicine Hat city council adopted a “land acknowledgment” statement in early 2021 to be read on culturally appropriate occasions, but following the 2021 election, a new council group directed staff to evaluate the national commission’s report.

It was tasked to a combined committee of the city’s community vibrancy committee, which takes on special projects, and members of the local Indigenous community.

“There’s a opportunity to recognize Indigenous culture, and as we work through it, we’re attempting to think of actual actions the municipality can take part in,” said Carol Syrette, a co-chair and a programmer with the Miywasin Friendship Centre.

Five main points in the report deal with education, recognition, relationship building, advocacy and reporting.

Actions taken would be catalogued for three years and submitted annually to the national TR commission.

Committee chair Coun. Ramona Robins said the recommendations reflect a large amount of work and thought from the committee.

“I can’t imagine another situation where people are asked to relay their trauma so others can learn from it,” said Robins. “It’s an honour to be included, even though it is emotional and difficult.”

Coun. Allison Knodel said she has been present when day school attendees discuss mistreatment and their experiences.

“I really admire the work that’s been done and what’s included in this, considering the weight of what’s been included in these stories,” she told the committee, adding later she was encouraged to see the report put into practice. “We certainly have room to grow in the organization.”

The local report suggests council should establish a related standing advisory committee and create a staff position to oversee protocol and staff training.

It asks the city to lobby federal and provincial governments to support local and wider reconciliation efforts, and request the repatriation of any culturally significant items or human remains that were removed from the community.

The city should promote Indigenous history and culture, observe reconciliation week each year, consider renaming streets or areas, and bid to host Indigenous-led or focused sporting events or festivities.

Several years ago, the city renamed portions of the South Flats and a trailway as Saratoga Park, a Métis settlement often viewed as a squatters camp in the early 20th century.

Last year, the Chief of Police’s Office issued a statement supportive of the department’s position Truth and Reconciliation issues.

“We’d like to see some continuity with that,” said Syrette. “The sense from the committee is that they want accountability and followup, and there are plans for that in the three-year plan.”

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