About Us.
In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) proposed 94 Calls to Action including the final two, #93 and #94, which address concerns related to newcomers to Canada. Item #93 calls for a more inclusive history of diverse Indigenous Peoples of Canada in settlement education and the Canadian citizenship test, including information about treaties and the history of residential schools. Meanwhile, item #94 calls for an update to the citizenship oath to include the acknowledgment of Indigenous presence regarding the existence of treaties. These calls to action are put forward with the key message of TRC that “[w]e are all Treaty people who share responsibility for taking action on reconciliation” (2015, p. 11). We come together to collectively work towards taking this responsibility, as treaty persons and guests, on this beautiful land we now call home.
How did we come together?
NNCTR emerged from the desire to bring together newcomer-serving organizations and groups committed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Calls to Action. We believe that our sector should take an active role in building good relationships with the original host of this land. It was initiated by the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT) and joined by the SAH Association and Surrey Local Immigration Partnership and Collaboration, as well as an
Advisory Committee comprised of newcomer-serving professionals and allies across the country. The initial idea originated from a community-based research project examining Indigenous–Refugee relations at CCVT. The outcomes of this research project were shared with various newcomer-serving communities across the country. During these discussions and gatherings, many people spoke about the deep desire for a space to think about the role of newcomer communities in truth and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. To address this need, we began to meet regularly, which led to the creation of the National Newcomer Collective for Truth and Reconciliation (NNTRC) in 2023. Our membership is growing steadily. We hope to engage with other newcomer-serving organizations across the country. Given that each geographical location has a unique history and relationship with Indigenous communities, we want to pay careful attention to the diversities and specificities of local Indigenous-Newcomer relations. We know that there are a lot of organizations doing great work about the TRC in our sector, but what is lacking is the space to share this important work and learn from each other. We hope to draw on the concept of Communities of Practice (CoP), which was first proposed by Lave and Wenger (1991). CoP is a collective space for capacity building and the generation of ideas and shared knowledge to advance practice and social action movements. We want this collective to be a space for collective reflection, mutual learning and critical action. Truth and Reconciliation work is an enormous task that cannot be done alone. It needs collective will and action.
