Sharing the Land, Sharing a Future: The Legacy of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples(Perceptions on Truth and Reconciliation)

Sharing the Land, Sharing a Future looks to both the past and the future as it examines the foundational work of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) and the legacy of its 1996 report. It assesses the Commission's influence on subsequent milestones in Indigenous-Canada relations and considers our prospects for a constructive future. RCAP's five-year examination of the relationships of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples to Canada and to non-Indigenous Canadians resulted in a new vision for Canada and provided 440 specific recommendations, many of which informed the subsequent work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). Considered too radical and difficult to implement, RCAP's recommendations were largely ignored, but the TRC reiterates that longstanding inequalities and imbalances in Canada's relationship with Indigenous peoples remain and quite literally calls us to action. With reflections on RCAP's legacy by its co-chairs, leaders of national Indigenous organizations and the Minister of Indigenous Crown Relations, and leading academics and activists, this collection refocuses our attention on the groundbreaking work already performed by RCAP. Organized thematically, it explores avenues by which we may establish a new relationship, build healthy and powerful communities, engage citizens, and move to action. Sharing the Land, Sharing a Future marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the release of the RCAP report and demonstrates how its research and recommendations can inform today's reconciliation process.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Completing Confederation: The Necessary Foundation Chapter 2: Twenty Years Later: The RCAP Legacy in Indigenous Health System Governance—What about the Next Twenty? Chapter 3: Address by René Dussault, Co-Chair, Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Chapter 4: Video Address by Georges Erasmus, Co-Chair, Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Chapter 5: Address by Perry Bellegarde, National Chief, Assembly of First Nations Chapter 6: Address by Natan Obed, President, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Chapter 7: Address by Clément Chartier, President, Metis National Council Chapter 8: Address by Robert Bertrand, National Chief, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples Chapter 9: Address by Francyne Joe, President, Native Women’s Association of Canada Chapter 10: Address by Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Chapter 11: Thunderbird Is Rising: Indigenizing Education in Canada Chapter 12: Insights into Community Development in First Nations: A Poverty Action Research Chapter 13: Indigenous Economic Development with Tenacity Chapter 14: Powerful Communities, Healthy Communities: A Twenty-Five Year Journey of Healing and Wellness Chapter 15: Cultural Safety Chapter 16: What Will It Take? Ending the Canadian Government’s Chronic Failure to Do Better for First Nations Children and Families Chapter 17: The Art of Healing and Reconciliation: From Time Immemorial through RCAP, the TRC, and Beyond Chapter 18: Engaging Citizens in Indigenous-Non-Indigenous Relations Chapter 19: SSHRC and the Conscientious Community: Reflecting and Acting on Indigenous Research and Reconciliation in Response to CTA Chapter 20: Canada’s Aboriginal Policy and the Politics of Ambivalence: A Policy Tools Perspective Chapter 21: Executive Summary, Canadian Public Opinion on Aboriginal PeoplesConclusion: What’s the Way Forward?

About the Author :
Katherine Graham has been an active scholar on Indigenous and Northern issues for over four decades. She served in several senior research and policy roles with the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. David Newhouse is Professor of Indigenous Studies and Director of the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies at Trent University. He was a member of the policy team on economics for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

Review :
"Sharing the Land makes use of a range of different modes of writing that includes addresses, critical scholarly articles, and a speculative thinkpiece. Among its authors are scholars and political figures and activists, including the RCAP co-chairs. Because of this diversity of perspectives, its conclusions are almost necessarily [...] ambiguous. The best we might be able to say is that RCAP's legacies are controversial and multiple." --Andrew Nurse "BC Studies" "This book is an indictment of settler society and governments in Canada. [Sharing the Land, Sharing a Future] will be important for everyone working in Indigenous-settler relations." --Don Schweitzer "University of Toronto Quarterly"