The Art and Limits of Social Reconciliation

Running head: THE ART AND LIMITS OF SOCIAL RECONCILIATION
THE ART AND LIMITS OF SOCIAL RECONCILIATION
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THE ART AND LIMITS OF SOCIAL RECONCILIATION
Introduction
Reconciliation in the context of the aftermath of any violent conflict is very difficult
considering the destroyed lives, separated communities and mass atrocity. Reconciliation refers
to the process of restoring the “shattered relationship between two actors”. When the word
‘social’ is added, the process no longer involves just an individual but an entire community or
group. In the context of Canada, these two actors are the Canadian government and the First
Nations people.
In this essay, the art and limits of social reconciliation shall be discussed using evidences
and instances from the Canadian political and social scenario. The essay will first identify
reasons for social reconciliation in Canada. Then, it will discuss the art and limits of social
reconciliation focusing specifically on the works of some prominent scholars.
Discussion
Social reconciliation in Canada was sought necessary due to the unfathomable atrocities
done on the First Nations, Inuit and Metis people especially during the previous decades. The
Indian Residential Schools particularly played a significant role in violating the basic rights of
the Aboriginal citizens. These residential schools were in existence until the late 20th century and
those who were forced to attend these schools have had to go undergo severe mental and
physical trauma. As documented in work of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery titled
Witnesses: Art and Canada’s Indian Residential Schools, the residential school survivors had to
face mental and physical abuse. Geoffrey Carr, one of the main contributors of the work
interviewed Chief Robert Joseph, a residential school survivor about his past memories before
being sent to the residential school. Chief Joseph reminisces the horrific time he had at the

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THE ART AND LIMITS OF SOCIAL RECONCILIATION
school. He shared his experience stating that he was forcefully sent to the St. Michael’s Indian
Residential school at Alert Bay where he used to be beaten for not being able to reply in English,
made to stand for hours without being permission to even go to the toilet. The work also consists
of the art works of many residential school survivors who had to go through similar trauma.
In order to reconcile these atrocities and violence carried out on the Aboriginal people, a
long process of reconciliation and apology in Canada began. As Miller (2016) would argue, the
use of apology and reconciliation by the governments especially in Canada and the United States
have been mostly done as “well-publicized and ritualized events” than these have been done for
actual apology and reconciliation. The author further states that little attention has been paid in
the scholarly world to the way apology and reconciliation should occur in a proper manner. Most
of the researches have been based on political negotiations, international diplomacy, education
and the role this plays in reconciliation. The author further states that the researches on apologies
and reconciliation have been done largely from a “vantage point of those who are not the
newsmakers and largely without voice”. In Canada, the apologies and reconciliations began in
2006 when the Conservative government first provided official apology to the Chinese
Canadians who were compelled to pay head tax for immigrating to Canada during the late 19th
and early 20th century. the apologies for the damage done to the Canadian Aboriginal people by
taking their children away and forcing them to attend residential schools came in 1998 when the
then Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister, Jane Stewart made a formal apology on
behalf of Canada. The Canadian government also funded a 350 million dollar for the individual
victims of the residential schools project but these reconciliations are mostly without “any real
sense of responsibility or meaning”.