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The national day for truth and reconciliation.

September 30th, 2021 marks the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which was proposed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as one of its 94 Calls to Action. This day honours the survivors of the residential school system, their families, and communities. This public commemoration is a vital part of the reconciliation process in Canada as it deepens our collective awareness of this history and ensures ongoing reflection across the country for years to come.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation will mean different things to different people, though we will be united in the act of reflection. This is an important moment to honour the memories of survivors, who were harmed by horrendous abuses at residential schools, and their families, who have suffered intergenerational traumas. This is also a time to commemorate those who did not survive. For all of us, it will be difficult to acknowledge and sit with the truths of the past and its enduring impact on our society.

For us, as colleagues and as leaders of the Canada Council for the Arts—one Indigenous, one non-Indigenous—we deeply value coming together on this day to reckon with the history of the residential school system, and we champion the role of the arts in this process. We also fully assume, with humanity and humility, our responsibility to ensure that the organization we have been entrusted to lead is exemplary in terms of decolonization—in its operations, its decision-making, and its actions. 

The Canada Council for the Arts is working toward a more just, equitable, and decolonized future for society. This day reminds us of our organization’s colonial origins and the urgency of our ongoing work to address the oppression, exclusion, and anti-Indigenous racism it has perpetuated as a colonial institution. This work includes the organization’s support to Indigenous arts in a way that respects and upholds the cultural sovereignty of Indigenous peoples and the concepts of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis self-determination. Indigenous staff at the Council, with the support of Indigenous peoples across the country, are leading these decolonizing efforts.

Many Indigenous artists have played an important part in sharing truths about residential schools through works of art—like Michelle Good’s widely acclaimed novel Five Little Indians and Corey Payette’s powerful musical Children of God . In the coming years, works of art and literature from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis artists will continue to help us understand our past, just as they will continue to challenge us to enact real change.

The arts offer unique spaces to bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in dialogue. We firmly believe that it is largely through the arts and culture that we can, and must, come to know one another more fully—in terms of the past, as well as current realities and aspirations. At the Canada Council for the Arts, the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation propels us in our responsibility to uphold this essential role for the arts on this land. Our role in the shared journey toward reconciliation is top of mind on this day as we honour the survivors, families, and communities irrevocably harmed by the residential school system.  

Simon Brault, OC, OQ Director and CEO

Jesse Wente Chair

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Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Article by Ry Moran

Published Online September 24, 2015

Last Edited October 5, 2020

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was officially launched in 2008 as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA). Intended to be a process that would guide Canadians through the difficult discovery of the facts behind the residential school system, the TRC was also meant to lay the foundation for lasting reconciliation across Canada.

This is the full-length entry about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. For a plain language summary, please see Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Plain Language Summary) .

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was created as a result of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA). This multi-faceted agreement, widely understood to be one of the largest settlement packages in the history of the country, was intended to compensate survivors for the harms they suffered in residential schools , and to work towards a more just and equitable future for Indigenous peoples .

Schedule N of the IRSSA was the TRC’s official operating mandate. Divided into 14 sections, the mandate outlined an ambitious set of goals, activities and requirements the commissioners of the TRC were to follow. A few specific responsibilities given to the commission include:

• Hosting seven national events
• Issuing a final report
• Establishing a National Research Centre
• Collecting all relevant documents from other church and government entities
• Overseeing and approving a $20 million commemoration fund
• Hosting community events
• Regional liaisons
• Statement gathering/truth sharing
• An active research agenda

In addition to outlining the tasks to be completed by the TRC, the IRSSA established a five-year time frame and $60 million budget for the commission to complete these tasks. As would later be seen, fulfilling this mandate would prove challenging.

Early Work and Challenges

The commission commenced with the appointment of three commissioners: Justice Harry Laforme, an Ontario Court of Appeal judge and member of the Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation ; lawyer Jane Brewin Morley; and Indigenous health expert Claudette Dumont-Smith.

Despite high hopes, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission soon experienced difficulties. Less than six months after being appointed chair, Justice Harry Laforme resigned from the commission citing conflict with the commissioners, insurmountable challenges and government interference. The other commissioners followed suit some three months later. By March 2009, the TRC was seeking three new commissioners.

A New Beginning

By June 2009, three new commissioners were appointed and officially recognized in a ceremony on 1 July. These new commissioners — Justice Murray Sinclair , an Ojibwe  judge from the court of the Queen’s Bench, Manitoba ; lawyer Chief Wilton Littlechild from Maskwacis (Hobbema), Alberta and Marie Wilson, a well-known CBC broadcaster from Yellowknife , NT — faced the daunting task of quickly moving to re-establish the commission and to re-broker trust with Indigenous peoples following the initial failure of the TRC.

The commission relocated its head offices from Ottawa to downtown Winnipeg in an effort to maintain independence and to be closer to populations of survivors. The commission also moved quickly to hire a new executive director, followed by directors of the main functional areas of the commission’s mandate.

In an effort to draw public attention, the commission planned its first national event for June 2010 at The Forks National Historic Site in Winnipeg. This four-day outdoor event saw thousands of people listen to survivors at sharing circles, participate in a large powwow celebration and attend concert performances by well-known artists such as Buffy Sainte-Marie and Blue Rodeo .

This first event shaped proceeding national events, all of which came to share a number of core elements, including the lighting of a sacred fire, a four-day format, a call to gather each day and opportunities for survivors to share their truth with the commission in both public and private settings. The event also marked the induction of a TRC honorary witness, then- Governor General Michäelle Jean .

Next Steps – and More Challenges

Shortly after the Winnipeg national event, there was another staff turn-around. The commission’s director of research resigned, as did the executive director and National Events planning team.

Additionally, the commission began to apply pressure to government and church entities to produce their documentary records to the commission, as per the terms of the settlement agreement. While some entities complied willingly, document production would prove to be one of the most challenging elements of the commission’s mandate, seeing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in court on five separate occasions for a variety of document collection issues.

Despite these challenges, the main activities of the commission continued to advance. The second national event was held in Inuvik , NT, in June 2011, followed by events in Halifax and Saskatoon in 2012, Montreal and Vancouver in 2013, and the final national event in Edmonton in 2014.

Throughout this time, the TRC commissioners conducted community hearings across the country, visiting over 70 communities for formal hearings and many others for community events and public outreach activities. Statement gathering programs and the TRC’s research program continued as well.

The commission also oversaw the disbursement of two funding packages, totaling $20 million, for commemoration activities across the county. These funds stimulated the creation of a range of commemorative events, which included permanent community commemoration markers, such as that created in Williams Lake, BC , in addition to some impressive works of art, such as artist Carey Newman’s Witness Blanket and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Going Home Star ballet.

Creation of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR)

By the summer of 2014, the commission was preparing for the end of its mandate. Granted a one-year extension, the commissioners and research staff retrenched to focus on finalizing the daunting but exhaustive work of the final report, in addition to completing the document collection mandate of the commission. With a collection now totaling close to 7,000 statements and some five million records, establishing a permanent home for these materials became pressing.

Following an extensive call for proposals and a series of formal discussions, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) was awarded to the University of Manitoba . The NCTR was recognized as the permanent home for all statements, documents and other materials collected by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission over the course of its mandate. In addition to this task, the NCTR was responsible for continuing the journey of truth and reconciliation , especially in the areas of public education, research and access to the collection.

The official closing ceremonies of the commission took place in June 2015 in Ottawa, concluding six years of work and effort by the commission.

During these ceremonies the TRC presented four summary reports, including one report dedicated solely to recounting the voices of survivors. The final complete version of the report was released on 15 December 2015, marking the final chapter in the commission’s activities and mandate.

TRC Final Report and 94 Calls to Action

The final report, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future (2015), documents the tragic experiences of approximately 150,000 Canadian residential school students. Many of these children were sexually and physically abused. The commission also found that approximately 3,200 residential school students died of malnourishment, tuberculosis and other diseases caused by poor living conditions. Justice Murray Sinclair argued that this number is likely higher, perhaps 5 to 10 times as much; however, due to poor burial records, the commission could not report a more accurate number.

The TRC labelled the residential school system as a case of “cultural genocide.” ( See also Genocide  and Genocide and Indigenous Peoples in Canada .) The final report defined cultural genocide as the “destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group.” The report concluded: “these measures were part of a coherent policy to eliminate Aboriginal people as a distinct peoples and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream against their will." The use of the term “cultural genocide” launched debate and discussion in Canada. While some disagreed with the use of the term, others argued it didn’t do enough to represent the suffering of Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the ceremonial report release, and has committed to implementing all of the 94 recommendations set out in the June 2015 summary. The Trudeau government began working towards one of the recommendations in December 2015 — a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The national inquiry's Final Report was completed and presented to the public on 3 June 2019. ( See also   Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada .)  It is estimated that some of the commission’s other recommendations, such as improving Indigenous peoples' access to post-secondary schooling, reducing the number of Indigenous children in foster care, increasing CBC/Radio-Canada funding for Indigenous programs, and addressing the health-care gap between Indigenous peoples and other Canadians, will cost the federal government tens of millions of dollars. Implementing these recommendations will also require a government fully committed to change; in the words of Justice Sinclair, “Canada must move from apology to action.”

Did You Know? Historica Canada , using data supplied by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba , has created a map (see below) of all residential schools in Canada. Part of a larger effort by Historica Canada called the Residential Schools Awareness Program, the map includes the location, name, religious denomination, opening and closing dates, and any other names by which the schools were known.

Residential Schools in Newfoundland and Labrador

The benefits of federal compensation packages excluded survivors of residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador . Since Canada did not establish or operate residential schools in that province (Newfoundland was not part of Canada when the schools began operating), the federal government argued that it was not responsible for compensating former students. After survivors launched a class-action lawsuit against the government, a settlement of $50 million was reached on 10 May 2016. The settlement was approved by Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice Robert Stack on 28 September 2016. More than 800 survivors in the province will now have some closure. On 24 November 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized to survivors of residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador.

• reconciliation

Indigenous Peoples in Canada

• residential school

Further Reading

J.R. Miller, Residential Schools and Reconciliation: Canada Confronts Its History (2017) and  Shingwauk's Vision: A History of Native Residential Schools (1996).

John S. Milloy, A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986 (1999). 

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, They Came for the Children: Canada, Aboriginal Peoples, and the Residential Schools (2012).

External Links

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada   Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015).

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada  A commission that investigated the policies and operations of residential schools and assisted Indigenous victims and their families through the process of reconciliation.

CTV News A list of highlights from the TRC's final report

Associated Collections

Indigenous peoples, first nations, recommended, residential schools in canada, murray sinclair, the white paper, 1969, indian residential schools settlement agreement, government apology to former students of residential schools, missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in canada, first nations in canada, indigenous perspectives education guide.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) provided those directly or indirectly affected by the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools system with an opportunity to share their stories and experiences.

On this page

About the truth and reconciliation commission, the truth and reconciliation commission's final report.

The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement , the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history, began to be implemented in 2007. One of the elements of the agreement was the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada to facilitate reconciliation among former students, their families, their communities and all Canadians.

The official mandate  (PDF) Kb , 12 pages) -->of the TRC is found in Schedule "N" of the Settlement Agreement which includes the principles that guided the commission in its important work.

Between 2007 and 2015, the Government of Canada provided about $72 million to support the TRC 's work. The TRC spent 6 years travelling to all parts of Canada and heard from more than 6,500 witnesses. The TRC also hosted 7 national events across Canada to engage the Canadian public, educate people about the history and legacy of the residential schools system, and share and honour the experiences of former students and their families.

The TRC created a historical record of the residential schools system. As part of this process, the Government of Canada provided over 5 million records to the TRC. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba now houses all of the documents collected by the TRC.

In June 2015, the TRC held its closing event in Ottawa and presented the executive summary of the findings contained in its multi-volume final report, including 94 "calls to action" (or recommendations) to further reconciliation between Canadians and Indigenous Peoples.

In December 2015, the TRC released its entire 6-volume final report. All Canadians are encouraged to read the summary or the final report to learn more about the terrible history of Indian Residential Schools and its sad legacy.

To read the reports, please visit the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation website.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Final Report is a testament to the courage of each and every Survivor and family member who shared their story.

As part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accepted the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on behalf of Canada.

The Government of Canada continues to be committed to a renewed nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous Peoples based on recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership. The Government of Canada will work closely with provinces, territories, First Nations, the Métis Nation, Inuit groups and church entities to implement recommendations of the TRC and further reconciliation to the benefit of all Canadians. This will include the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples .

The Government of Canada also recognizes that true reconciliation goes beyond the scope of the commission's recommendations. The Prime Minister announced that Canada will work with leaders of First Nations, the Métis Nation, Inuit, provinces and territories, parties to the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, and other key partners, to design a national engagement strategy for developing and implementing a national reconciliation framework, informed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendations.

As an important step in rebuilding Canada's relationship with Indigenous Peoples, the Prime Minister of Canada met with leaders of the National Indigenous Organizations on December 16, 2015, in Ottawa to continue the dialogue on reconciliation. At that meeting, the Prime Minister committed to National Indigenous Organizations that he would meet with them annually in order to sustain and advance progress on shared priorities.

• 5th anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation final report
• Ministers Vandal, Miller, Bennett and Guilbeault mark Orange Shirt Day 2020

Related links

• Facebook: Replay our live chat with Senator Murray Sinclair
• Delivering on Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action
• Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program
• Hope for Wellness Help Line

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• Laurier News Hub

Message on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Sept. 13, 2021

Dear Laurier community,

The Government of Canada has recently designated September 30 the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to honour First Nations, Inuit and Métis survivors, their families and communities, and to ensure the public commemoration of their history and the legacy of residential schools.

On this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, it is essential for all citizens to reflect on this country’s colonial past and the continual legacy of colonial trauma. The summer of 2021 caused Canada to pause as we once again became aware of the realities of Indigenous lives lost with deliberate and intentional policies of harm. For non-Indigenous people, it brought awareness and exposure to harsh truths that many have not heard or wished to not learn, and further some deny. For Indigenous families, it was a reminder of the real harms and colonial violence that not only began in the early days of Canada, but continue with public sector systems, legislation, social policies, and actions of the Canadian State. These are the reasons that the 94 Calls to Action are presented – to call out the systemic issues as a path forward in Canada.

This summer was the beginning and realization of the journey required to restore peace between Indigenous and non-Indigenous society on the lands we now call Canada. This truth telling must continue, even though it is unsettling, upsetting, and causes us to examine Canada in a way we may not have done in the past. This is not to cause harm, to blame, or to elicit guilt, although these feelings may arise as a result. Truth telling is to help construct understanding and empathy of the trauma continued to be experienced by Indigenous Peoples. Truth telling is an essential element to occur before we can move on to a journey of restoring peace and reconciliation with one another.

Given the emotions experienced by the revelations and discoveries of mass and unmarked graves at Indian Residential Schools across Canada, on this inaugural September 30, the Indigenous Initiatives team wishes to offer a safe place at the Indigenous Student Centres in Waterloo and Brantford for Indigenous students only, to gather in support of one another. We ask that the Laurier community respect and honour this Indigenous-only space on this day. We also request that flexibility be provided to Indigenous students who forgo classes on September 30 and instead spend time focusing on their own well-being.

In recognition of this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the university will be offering the opportunity for learning and reflection through a virtual session open to all students, staff, and faculty. More details will be forthcoming.

In addition to our virtual events, we have two ways in which the Laurier community may to wish support the Woodland Cultural Centre (site of the former Mohawk Institute): the Office of Indigenous Initiatives will be selling “Save the Evidence” campaign shirts, and the Laurier bookstores on both campuses will be selling orange shirts in honour of September 30th also being Orange Shirt Day . With both sales opportunities, the proceeds from each will be donated directly to the “ Save the Evidence Campaign .”

As this new federal holiday is meant to be a day of reflection on the history of Indian Residential Schools in Canada and to consider the ways in which reconciliation may be realized, we encourage the Laurier community to engage with the following list of resources to hold their own space for reflection.

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission
• Aboriginal Healing Foundation
• Beyond 94 Truth and Reconciliation in Canada
• Residential School Survivor Stories
• Reconciliation in Canada

The residential school’s crisis line is available 24 hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of a residential school experience. Support is available at 1-866-925-4419.

In peace and friendship,

Darren Thomas Associate Vice-President of Indigenous Initiatives

Deborah MacLatchy President and Vice-Chancellor

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Politics Articles & More

Truth and reconciliation, forgiveness is not just personally rewarding. it's also a political necessity, says archbishop desmond tutu . he explains how forgiveness allowed south africans to imagine a new beginning—one based on honesty, peace, and compassion..

Malusi Mpumlwana was a young enthusiastic antiapartheid activist and a close associate of Steve Biko in South Africa’s crucial Black Consciousness Movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was involved in vital community development and health projects with impoverished and often demoralized rural communities. As a result, he and his wife were under strict surveillance, constantly harassed by the ubiquitous security police. They were frequently held in detention without trial.

I remember well a day Malusi gave the security police the slip and came to my office in Johannesburg, where I was serving as general secretary of the South African Council of Churches . He told me that during his frequent stints in detention, when the security police routinely tortured him, he used to think, “These are God’s children and yet they are behaving like animals. They need us to help them recover the humanity they have lost.” For our struggle against apartheid to be successful, it required remarkable young people like Malusi.

All South Africans were less than whole because of apartheid. Blacks suffered years of cruelty and oppression, while many privileged whites became more uncaring, less compassionate, less humane, and therefore less human. Yet during these years of suffering and inequality, each South African’s humanity was still tied to that of all others, white or Black, friend or enemy. For our own dignity can only be measured in the way we treat others. This was Malusi’s extraordinary insight.

I saw the power of this idea when I was serving as chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. This was the commission that the postapartheid government, headed by our president, Nelson Mandela , had established to move us beyond the cycles of retribution and violence that had plagued so many other countries during their transitions from oppression to democracy. The commission granted perpetrators of political crimes the opportunity to appeal for amnesty by giving a full and truthful account of their actions and, if they so chose, an opportunity to ask for forgiveness—opportunities that some took and others did not. The commission also gave victims of political crimes a chance to tell their stories, hear confessions, and thus unburden themselves from the pain and suffering they had experienced.

For our nation to heal and become a more humane place, we had to embrace our enemies as well as our friends. The same is true the world over. True enduring peace—between countries, within a country, within a community, within a family—requires real reconciliation between former enemies and even between loved ones who have struggled with one another.

How could anyone really think that true reconciliation could avoid a proper confrontation? After a husband and wife or two friends have quarreled, if they merely seek to gloss over their differences or metaphorically paper over the cracks, they must not be surprised when they are soon at it again, perhaps more violently than before, because they have tried to heal their ailment lightly.

True reconciliation is based on forgiveness, and forgiveness is based on true confession, and confession is based on penitence, on contrition, on sorrow for what you have done. We know that when a husband and wife have quarreled, one of them must be ready to say the most difficult words in any language, “I’m sorry,” and the other must be ready to forgive for there to be a future for their relationship. This is true between parents and children, between siblings, between neighbors, and between friends. Equally, confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation in the lives of nations are not just airy-fairy religious and spiritual things, nebulous and unrealistic. They are the stuff of practical politics.

Those who forget the past, as many have pointed out, are doomed to repeat it. Just in terms of human psychology, we in South Africa knew that to have blanket amnesty where no disclosure was made would not deal with our past. It is not dealing with the past to say glibly, “Let bygones be bygones,” for then they will never be bygones. How can you forgive if you do not know what or whom to forgive? In our commission hearings, we required full disclosure for us to grant amnesty. Only then, we thought, would the process of requesting and receiving forgiveness be healing and transformative for all involved. The commission’s record shows that its standards for disclosure and amnesty were high indeed: of the more than 7,000 applications submitted to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it granted amnesty to only 849 of them.

Unearthing the truth was necessary not only for the victims to heal, but for the perpetrators as well. Guilt, even unacknowledged guilt, has a negative effect on the guilty. One day it will come out in some form or another. We must be radical. We must go to the root, remove that which is festering, cleanse and cauterize, and then a new beginning is possible.

Forgiveness gives us the capacity to make a new start. That is the power, the rationale, of confession and forgiveness. It is to say, “I have fallen but I am not going to remain there. Please forgive me.” And forgiveness is the grace by which you enable the other person to get up, and get up with dignity, to begin anew. Not to forgive leads to bitterness and hatred, which, just like self-hatred and self-contempt, gnaw away at the vitals of one’s being. Whether hatred is projected out or projected in, it is always corrosive of the human spirit.

We have all experienced how much better we feel after apologies are made and accepted, but even still it is so hard for us to say that we are sorry. I often find it difficult to say these words to my wife in the intimacy and love of our bedroom. How much more difficult it is to say these words to our friends, our neighbors, and our coworkers. Asking for forgiveness requires that we take responsibility for our part in the rupture that has occurred in the relationship. We can always make excuses for ourselves and find justifications for our actions, however contorted, but we know that these keep us locked in the prison of blame and shame.

In the story of Adam and Eve, the Bible reminds us of how easy it is to blame others. When God confronted Adam about eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam was less than forthcoming in accepting responsibility. Instead he shifted the blame to Eve, and when God turned to Eve, she, too, tried to pass the buck to the serpent. (The poor serpent had no one left to blame.) So we should not be surprised at how reluctant most people are to acknowledge their responsibility and to say they are sorry. We are behaving true to our ancestors when we blame everyone and everything except ourselves. It is the everyday heroic act that says, “It’s my fault. I’m sorry.” But without these simple words, forgiveness is much more difficult.

Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the pain, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking, but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.

If the wrongdoer has come to the point of realizing his wrong, then one hopes there will be contrition, or at least some remorse or sorrow. This should lead him to confess the wrong he has done and ask for forgiveness. It obviously requires a fair measure of humility. But what happens when such contrition or confession is lacking? Must the victim be dependent on these before she can forgive? There is no question that such a confession is a very great help to the one who wants to forgive, but it is not absolutely indispensable. If the victim could forgive only when the culprit confessed, then the victim would be locked into the culprit’s whim, locked into victimhood, no matter her own attitude or intention. That would be palpably unjust.

In the act of forgiveness, we are declaring our faith in the future of a relationship and in the capacity of the wrongdoer to change. We are welcoming a chance to make a new beginning. Because we are not infallible, because we will hurt especially the ones we love by some wrong, we will always need a process of forgiveness and reconciliation to deal with those unfortunate yet all too human breaches in relationships. They are an inescapable characteristic of the human condition.

We have had a jurisprudence, a penology in Africa that was not retributive but restorative. Traditionally, when people quarreled, the main intention was not to punish the miscreant but to restore good relations. This was the animating principle of our Truth and Reconciliation Commission. For Africa is concerned, or has traditionally been concerned, about the wholeness of relationships. That is something we need in this world—a world that is polarized, a world that is fragmented, a world that destroys people. It is also something we need in our families and friendships. For retribution wounds and divides us from one another. Only restoration can heal us and make us whole. And only forgiveness enables us to restore trust and compassion to our relationships. If peace is our goal, there can be no future without forgiveness.

About the Author

Desmond Tutu

Desmond Tutu is the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, retired as Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, 1996. He then served as chairman of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This essay draws from his latest book, God Has a Dream (Doubleday, 2004). Audio of Archbishop Tutu reading from his book can be heard at http://www.godhasadream.com.

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National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

York University has a long-standing commitment to access, inclusion, equity and diversity; it is a leader in creating a more equitable, diverse and inclusive community on all its campuses. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is an important day to remind us to pause and reflect on the intergenerational harm that the Residential School systems caused to Indigenous Peoples across the country. It is a time to reflect on the strength and resiliency of Indigenous peoples. Importantly, it is a time for recognizing our shared responsibilities for creating new and better relationships with Indigenous people. 

This year, we ask our community members to reflect on the theme Engaging in a Reconciliation Journey: Learning Through Various Forms of Media through featured events, films, resources and stories. A selection of Indigenous films are available to view below and will be screened at a series of in-person events being hosted at both the Keele and Glendon campuses from Monday, September 18 to Wednesday, September 27. The University will mark the day on Thursday, September 28 by hosting a hybrid community panel featuring the voices of staff reflecting on their learning journey, followed by a ceremonial fire at Skennen’kó:wa Gamig.

Members of the community must take it upon themselves to learn about the history and ongoing impacts of Residential Schools. We encourage all community members to take a minute of silence on September 30th to reflect on what steps they will take towards reconciliation. 

Download the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Zoom Background .

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We invite everyone to join the journey toward education and reconciliation by buying an orange shirt. The York University Bookstore is a committed partner of the Orange Shirt Society, with proceeds from the sale of Orange shirts.

• Read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission findings ( conclusions de la Commission de Vérité et Réconciliation du Canada ) and 94 Calls to Action ( Appels à l’action ). 
• Read the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls final report ( le rapport final de l’Enquête nationale sur les femmes et les filles autochtones disparues et assassinées ), the 231 Calls for Justice ( Les appels à la justice ) and the 2021 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan: Ending Violence Against Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People that responds to the final report. 
• Read the Spirit Bear Plan ( Le Plan de Spirit Bear ) from the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society. 
• Universities Canada Principles on Indigenous Education ( Les universités canadiennes principes en matière d’éducation des Autochtones ) 
• The Assembly of First Nations: It’s Our Time Toolkit  
• Orange Shirt Society  
• Lighting the Fire: Experiences of Indigenous Faculty in Ontario Universities  
• Take a course at York University – there are many that have an Indigenous focus.  
• Read the Indigenous Framework for York University: A Guide to Action . 
• First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv): Nisitohtamowin ᓂᓯᑐᐦᑕᒧᐃᐧᐣ An Introduction to Understanding Indigenous Perspectives in Canada . In partnership with BMO and Reconciliation Education, FNUniv is bringing this introductory eLearning opportunity to organizations and communities across Canada. The eLearning course is a free public resource for all Canadians and is available June 1 to July 15 in recognition of National Indigenous History Month. It is an hour-long overview. 
• University of Alberta course: Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson massive open online course (MOOC) from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada. From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores key issues facing Indigenous Peoples today from a historical and critical perspective, highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. 
• Donate to Indigenous scholarships or an Indigenous-led organization. 
• Write to elected representatives. 
• Read books, watch films or television programs and view art by Indigenous Peoples. 
• Toronto Public Library “Read Indigenous” List  
• National Film Board of Canada’s Indigenous Cinema Collection  
• Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) 
• Art Gallery of Ontario Indigenous Collection  
• CBC Gem Indigenous Stories Collection  
• Support is available for survivors and those affected through the Indian Residential Schools Survivors Society at 1-800-721-0066 or on the 24-hour crisis line at 1-866-925-4419.
• York University’s Centre for Sexual Violence Response, Support & Education  serves all York community members by empowering survivors and providing access to needed supports. The Centre staff are available 24 hours a day at 416-736-5211
• There are a variety of supports available to the York community listed on the  Mental Health and Wellness site  and through the  Employee and Family Assistance Program .

Live Streams

2023 live stream national day for truth and reconciliation at york.

September 28, 2023

2022 LIVE STREAM Reclaiming and Rewriting Indigenous Histories of the Western Hemisphere (the Americas)

September 29, 2022

2022 LIVE STREAM Reflecting on the Legacies of Residential Schools: What it means for our present and our futures 

September 30, 2022

2021 LIVE STREAM Reflections on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

September 30, 2021

Indigenous Films & Documentaries

2006, 1h28m

Directed by Nadia McLaren Muffins for Granny is a remarkably layered, emotionally complex story of personal and cultural survival. McLaren tells the story of her own grandmother by combining precious home movie fragments with the stories of seven elders dramatically affected by their experiences in residential school. McLaren uses animation with a painterly visual approach to move the audience between the darkness of memory and the reality that these charismatic survivors live in today. 

2017, 1hr47m

This film is an adaptation of Ojibway writer Richard Wagamese’s award-winning novel, this moving and important drama sheds light on the dark history of Canada’s boarding schools or Indigenous Residential Schools and the indomitable spirit of Indigenous people.

2012, 1hr22min

In this feature film, the profound impact of the Canadian government’s residential school system is conveyed through the eyes of 2 children who were forced to face hardships beyond their years. As young children, Lyna and Glen were taken from their homes and placed in church-run boarding schools, where they suffered years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, the effects of which persist in their adult lives. We Were Children gives voice to a national tragedy and demonstrates the incredible resilience of the human spirit.  

2021, 44min

In Sarain Fox’s Anishinaabe culture, women lead the family. Her auntie, Mary Bell, is the oldest surviving matriarch, and she holds the family’s history: the stories, the trauma, the truth. She is a knowledge keeper. The Indigenous way is to sit with elders while they live. And Fox’s job, as the youngest in her family, is to carry on those ways. Mary is a residential school survivor who worked with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to document the stories of other survivors. And now that she’s an elder, she’s focused on how those stories will live on. Elders are knowledge keepers, but they are also among the most vulnerable to COVID-19. The pandemic is threatening to cut a line of knowledge that has survived for generations. Fox reckons with this tension and her duty to sit with her auntie to document her stories before they are lost.  

2010, 40min

June 2010 marked the first national hearing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, aimed at addressing the painful legacy of residential schools in Canada. First Nations, Métis and Inuit survivors began putting their stories on the official record as the Commission commenced its complex work. This collection of six documentaries from The National profiles Justice Murray Sinclair, Manitoba’s first Aboriginal judge and the head of the Commission; uncovers the personal stories of survivors both on the ground in Winnipeg and across Canada; and gets up-close with 11-year-old Wanekia Morning Star Cooke to hear the younger generation’s take on the residential school experience. 

2021, 29min

As the Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Senator Murray Sinclair was a key figure in raising global awareness of the atrocities of Canada’s residential school system. With determination, wisdom and kindness, Senator Sinclair remains steadfast in his belief that the path to actual reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people requires understanding and accepting often difficult truths about Canada’s past and present. Alanis Obomsawin shares the powerful speech the Senator gave when he accepted the WFM-Canada World Peace Award, interspersing the heartbreaking testimonies of former students imprisoned at residential schools. The honouring of Senator Sinclair reminds us to honour the lives and legacies of the tens of thousands of Indigenous children taken from their homes and cultures, and leaves us with a profound feeling of hope for a better future.  

2016, 30min

This program examines the history, legacy and current impacts of the Residential School experience in Canada. From the establishment of the early Residential Schools to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, this film shines a light into this dark chapter of Canadian history.    

Written and directed by multiple award winning Métis filmmaker Matt LeMay, this poignant documentary features interviews with Phil Fontaine, Shawn Atleo, Dr. Marie Wilson, Dr. Mike Degagne, and Martha Marsden.  

2017, 13min   

In 1963, Lena Wandering Spirit became one of the more than 150,000 Indigenous children who were removed from their families and sent to residential school. Jay Cardinal Villeneuve’s short documentary Holy Angels powerfully recaptures Canada’s colonialist history through impressionistic images and the fragmented language of a child. Villeneuve met Lena through his work as a videographer with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Filmed with a fierce determination to not only uncover history but move past it, Holy Angels speaks of the resilience of a people who have found ways of healing—and of coming home again.  

2008, 22min

This short documentary explores the legacy of residential schools through the eyes of two extraordinary women who not only lived it, but who, as adults, made the surprising decision to return to the school that had affected their lives so profoundly. This intimate and moving film affirms their strength and dignity in standing up and making a difference on their own terms.  

2015, 19min

This CBC documentary looks at how the Residential School system affected survivors, and their children and grandchildren through personal interviews.  

University statement on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

National Indigenous History Month honours histories, cultures, contributions

Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages launches learning resource

Lassonde-funded course highlights colonial impact on Indigenous people

Indigenous Research Ethics Board sets nationwide precedent

Congress 2023 screens Indigenous-focused films

• #ExperienceYU: Centre for Indigenous Student Services (CISS)
• Osgoode RedDress Week honours murdered and missing Indigenous women
• Justice Fund announces gift to York for Black, Indigenous students’ arts education
• Indigenous students share reflections on National Indigenous Peoples Day
• York scholar examines dental health in Ontario’s Indigenous Peoples
• Osgoode grad hopes scholarship will help inspire Indigenous youth
• Congress 2023 celebrates Indigenous education initiative Wüléelham
• Bonnie Devine public lecture honours National Indigenous History Month
• EUC celebrates professor’s book on Indigenous land claims in B.C.
• Congress 2023 panel to examine settler-Indigenous relationships in Canada
• Indigenous Spring Market opens ahead of All Nations Pow Wow
• Distinguished Professor of Indigenous design and planning to visit York
• A statement on York’s commitment to the Indigenous Framework and decolonizing research
• Second meeting of Indigenous book club to consider award-winning ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’
• National Indigenous History Month at York
• Waaban Indigenous Teacher Education
• York invests in Indigenous experiential education curriculum
• Meet the inaugural recipients of the Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowships for Black and Indigenous Scholars
• Elder Duke Redbird draws on the wisdom of Mother Earth
• Reflecting on National Indigenous Peoples Day and National Indigenous Peoples Month
• Cora Coady appointed Indigenous teaching and learning librarian
• The Black Creek walks, talks and dances
• Lassonde’s k2i academy launches new Indigenous Engineering, Technology & Innovation by Design program
• York student premieres documentary at Human Rights Watch Film Festival
• Alectra and EUC establish Alectra Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Undergraduate Awards
• York University commits $1M over three years to support Indigenous research 
• New book club brings together non-Indigenous and Indigenous people for important conversations
• Thomas King talks about imagining things into existence
• Winter Solstice greetings from the AVP Indigenous Initiatives and Indigenous Council
• Associate Professor Ruth Green is the recipient of the City of Toronto’s Mino Bimaadiziwin Award (Indigenous Award)
• EUC Seminar Series looks at Indigenous involvement in city planning, Nov. 23
• What can the visual arts teach us about Indigenous history and culture?
• EUC Seminar Series continues with talk on Indigenous environmental justice
• Indigenous writer Michelle Good speaks about enduring trauma of residential school system
• National Day for Truth and Reconciliation panel explores reconciliation in action
• A message to the University community on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
• A statement from the Indigenous Council on this day for Truth and Reconciliation
• York announces launch of Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages

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Why is truth-telling so important? Our research shows meaningful reconciliation cannot occur without it

Research Associate, Deakin University

Professor of Race Relations, Deakin University

Disclosure statement

Vanessa Barolsky received funding to conduct research on community truth-telling from Reconciliation Australia, Deakin University and the Centre for Inclusive and Resilient Societies.

Yin Paradies receives funding to conduct research on community truth-telling from Reconciliation Australia, Deakin University and the Centre for Inclusive and Resilient Societies.

Deakin University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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This article mentions ongoing colonial violence towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and contains references that feature antiquated language.

Truth-telling is a key demand in the Uluru Statement and is seen as a vital step for both the Voice to Parliament and a Treaty. However, there has been ongoing debate as to whether historical injustices against First Nations peoples need to be addressed today.

Wiradjuri and Wailwan lawyer Teela Reid posed a question in a 2020 essay, is Australia ready to Gari Yala (speak truth) and reckon with its past?

We recently conducted a study to investigate this question by looking at First Nations community truth-telling practices. Our study found these communities have shown significant leadership in truth-telling, often without resources or support. Importantly, they have invited non-Indigenous people to also take part in truth-telling.

Truth-telling can take the form of memorial and commemorative events, repatriation of remains and cultural artefacts, the renaming of places, and the creation of public artworks and healing sites. A recent example is the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s truth-telling commission. Yoorrook released the truth-telling report this week, providing 46 recommendations for reforms into Victoria’s justice and child protection systems.

We found when non-Indigenous people participated in truth-telling with First Nations communities, it helped build a deeper shared understanding of the past and the achievements of First Nations peoples. This is why truth-telling is a collective social responsibility and non-Indigenous Australians are crucial participants.

But there is still much work to do. Many important historical events and First Nations achievements remain largely unrecognised. Sustained funding and support and the recognition of Australia’s difficult historical truths are crucial.

Read more: First Nations people have made a plea for 'truth-telling'. By reckoning with its past, Australia can finally help improve our future

Our research findings

Our research focused on documenting community truth-telling that reclaimed First Nations sovereignty and self-determination, as well as recognising colonial violence. We did in-depth investigations through 25 case studies, including ten in which we held yarning interviews with community organisers. These interviews helped shed new light on rich and diverse ways to engage with the truths of colonial history.

In the MacArthur region of New South Wales, reconciliation group Winga Myamly worked to make sure the 1816 Appin massacre on Dharawal Country is recognised and commemorated annually .

In the massacre, at least 14 (likely more) Aboriginal men, women and children were killed by members of a British Army regiment. The regiment chased the group to nearby cliffs at Cataract Gorge where many jumped to their deaths.

The 2019 commemoration brought together Dharawal Elder Aunty Glenda Chalker, a descendent of Giribunger, one of the survivors of the massacre, and Sandy Hamilton, descended from Stephen Partridge, who served with the regiment that carried out the attack.

In Portland, Victoria, a towering gum leaf sculpture, Mayapa Weeyn (meaning “make fire”) was erected near the site of the Convincing Ground massacre . This is where between 20 and 200 members of the Kilcarer Gunditj clan were killed by British whalers.

The sculpture recognises all 59 Gunditjmara clans, many of whom were killed during the Eumeralla Wars that followed the Convincing Ground massacre. Gunditjmara Elder Walter Saunders, who designed the sculpture, spent two years building it and talking with local residents in an informal process of truth-telling.

In Tasmania, the Mannalargenna Day Festival commemorates Pairrebeenne/Trawlwoolway leader Mannalargenna. Mannalargenna tried to negotiate to save the lives of Aboriginal people in Tasmania who had been devastated by the Black War during the 1830s.

Our study found truth-telling is more effective when it occurs through immersive experiences. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural practices, such as smoking ceremonies, walking on Country, storytelling and personal engagements with survivors, contributed to healing, dialogue and a deeper shared understanding of history.

Through these events Indigenous people deepened their connections to community, history and Country and non-Indigenous people learned about these connections from them. The increasing attendance at events such as the Appin massacre memorial, the Mannalargenna Day Festival and similar commemorations is evidence of the impact of this type of truth-telling.

Read more: 'Why didn't we know?' is no excuse. Non-Indigenous Australians must listen to the difficult historical truths told by First Nations people

Why is truth-telling important?

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have long called for Australia’s history to be told truthfully. The local truth-telling activities we have documented are examples of how communities have responded to this desire. They emphasise the importance of supporting communities to tell their stories, rather than government directing how truth-telling occurs.

While truth-telling does not guarantee reconciliation, the participants in our study stressed that meaningful reconciliation cannot occur without it. They emphasised the importance of reconciliation between First Nations and non-Indigenous communities because for some people these relationships have never existed, or are in need of repair.

Truth-telling is also crucial for political and social transformation. For example, the Queensland government is using truth-telling to help inform the path to Treaty. In Victoria, the Yoorrook Justice Commission is investigating historic and ongoing injustices experienced by First Nations peoples, alongside ongoing Treaty negotiations.

Read more: What is NAIDOC week? How did it start and what does it celebrate?

Community truth-telling can demonstrate the power of Indigenous identity and self-determination. It can also counter past attempts to erase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from Australian history.

Truth-telling highlights the crucial roles and contributions of First Nations peoples. Their acts of bravery and sacrifice, resistance against colonialism and contributions to communities.

Although some local governments have played a key role in supporting truth-telling, more support for local initiatives is required. National proposals, such as a national recognition of Mabo Day and a formal remembrance for frontier conflicts, have the potential to create a better environment for truth-telling.

• Stolen Generations
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• truth-telling
• Voice to parliament
• First Nations people

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By Charles (Chip) Hauss

In the last few years, reconciliation has become one of the "hottest" topics in the increasingly "hot" field of conflict resolution. It refers to a large number of activities that help turn the temporary peace of an agreement which ends the fighting into a lasting end to the conflict itself. Through reconciliation and the related processes of restorative and/or transitional justice, parties to the dispute explore and overcome the pain brought on during the conflict and find ways to build trust and live cooperatively with each other.

What is Reconciliation

Reconciliation is a rather new concept in the new field of conflict resolution. It is not mentioned once in a book I wrote in 1995. In the one I published in 2001, it was the most frequently cited concept.

As is the case with any new concept, there is no standard definition that all scholars and practitioners rely on. However, almost everyone acknowledges that it includes at least four critical components identified by John Paul Lederach -- truth, justice, mercy, and peace.

Lederach's use of the term "mercy" suggests that the ideas behind reconciliation have religious roots. It is a critical theological notion in all the Abrahamic faiths and is particularly important to Evangelical Christians as part of their building a personal relationship with God. For those who ask "what would Jesus do," reconciliation is often not just an important issue, but the most critical one in any conflict.

In recent years, reconciliation has also become an important matter for people who approach conflict resolution from a secular perspective. For them, the need for reconciliation grows out of the pragmatic, political realities of any conflict resolution process (see the next section).

Conflict resolution professionals use a number of techniques to try to foster reconciliation. By far the most famous of them is South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission that held hearings into the human rights abuses during the apartheid era and held out the possibility of amnesty to people who showed genuine remorse for their actions. Since the TRC was created in 1995, as many as 20 other such commissions have been created in other countries, which experienced intense domestic strife. These projects bring people on both sides of a conflict together to explore their mutual fear and anger and, more importantly, to begin building bridges of trust between them. Despite the violence in the region since 2000, some of the most promising examples of this kind of reconciliation have occurred between Israelis and Palestinians. For more than a decade, Oases of Peace ( Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salaam ) have been bringing together students and teachers from both sides of the divide. Similarly, the Seeds of Peace summer camp in Otisfield, Maine (U.S.) has served as a "safe place" for Israeli and Palestinian teenagers to spend extended periods of time together. Yet others have tried more unusual strategies. At Search for Common Ground , we make soap operas with conflict resolution themes for teenagers aired on radio in Africa and on television in Macedonia. Similarly, Benetton sponsored a summer camp for teenage basketball players from the former Yugoslavia, one of many examples in which people have tried to use sports to build bridges, ironically, in part through competition. Last but by no means least, it should be obvious from the above that many people have used religion as a vehicle to help forge reconciliation. Thus, the Rev. John Dawson has made reconciliation between blacks and whites the heart of his 20-year ministry in South Central Los Angeles. Similarly, Corrymeela is an interfaith religious retreat center, which has spent the last 25 years facilitating meetings between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

There is at least one common denominator to all these approaches to reconciliation. They all are designed to lead individual men and women to change the way they think about their historical adversaries. As a result, reconciliation occurs one person at a time and is normally a long and laborious process.

Why Reconciliation Matters

Reconciliation matters because the consequences of not reconciling can be enormous. In Fen Osler Hampson's terms, too many peace agreements are "orphaned."[1] That is, the parties reach an agreement that stops the fighting but does little to take the parties toward what Kenneth Boulding called stable peace , which can only occur when the issues that gave rise to the conflict in the first place are addressed to the satisfaction of all.[2]

Without reconciliation, the best one can normally hope for is the kind of armed standoff we have seen in Cyprus for nearly 30 years. In 1964, the rival Turk and Greek forces agreed to a cease fire, a temporary partition of the island, and the introduction of United Nations Peacekeeping forces. Since then, little progress has been made toward conflict resolution; in fact, it is all but impossible for Greek Cypriots to visit the Turkish part of the island and vice versa.

At worst, without reconciliation, the fighting can break out again, as we have seen since the tragic beginning of the second Intifada in Israel/Palestine since 2000. Despite Oslo and other agreements and despite some serious attempts at reconciliation at the grassroots level, the parties made little progress toward achieving stable peace until 2000 when Palestinian frustrations finally boiled over in a new and bloodier round of violence.

Most examples fall somewhere between Cyprus and Israel/Palestine. For instance, because Catholics and Protestants have not made much progress toward reconciliation, every dispute between them since 1998 has threatened to undermine the accomplishments of the Good Friday Agreement which put at least a temporary end to "the troubles" in Northern Ireland.

What Individuals Can Do

At the most basic level, reconciliation is all about individuals. It cannot be forced on people. They have to decide on their own whether to forgive and reconcile with their one-time adversaries.

Nothing shows this better than the remarkable documentary, "Long Night's Journey Into Day" which chronicles four cases considered by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Committee.[3] The final one involves a young black man who had been a police officer and helped lure seven activists into a trap in which they were all killed by the authorities. The last scene of the sequence shows a meeting he held with the mothers of the seven boys in which he begs for their forgiveness. It is clear that, unlike one of his white colleagues who is interviewed earlier, his confession and his remorse are heart-felt. Still, at first the mothers, whose pain remains raw more than a decade after the murders, refuse to forgive him. Then, one of them asks if his first name means "prayer" and when he says it does, you can literally watch the mothers draw on their own Christianity and find the mental "space" to forgive the former officer.

What States Can Do

By its very nature, reconciliation is a "bottom up" process and thus cannot be imposed by the state or any other institution. However, as the South African example shows, governments can do a lot to promote reconciliation and provide opportunities for people to come to grips with the past.

In South Africa, the TRC heard testimony from over 22,000 individuals and applications for amnesty from another 7,000. The TRC's success and the publicity surrounding it have led new regimes in such diverse countries as East Timor and Yugoslavia to form truth commissions of one sort or another. The idea of restorative justice, in general, is gaining more widespread support, especially following the creation of the International Criminal Court . And, truth commissions need not be national. A number of organizations in Greensboro, North Carolina, have come together to try to achieve reconciliation in a city which has been at the forefront of many violent racial incidents since the first sit-ins there in 1960.

What Third Parties Can Do

It is probably even harder for outsiders to spark reconciliation than it is for governments.

Most successful efforts at reconciliation have, in fact, been led by teams of "locals" from both sides of the divide. Thus, the TRC was chaired by Desmond Tutu, a black clergyman, while its vice president was Alex Boraine, a white pastor. Both were outspoken opponents of apartheid, but they made certain to include whites who had been supporters of the old regime until quite near its end.

The one exception to this rule is the role that NGOs can play in peacebuilding. The Mennonite Central Council, in particular, has focused a lot of its work in Central and South America on reconciliation. And even though it rarely uses the term, Search for Common Ground develops news programs and soap operas with conflict resolution themes in such countries as Macedonia and Burundi.

Resolution Isn't Cozy

Even though reconciliation mostly involves people talking to each other, it is not easy to achieve. Rather it is among the most difficult things people are ever called on to do emotionally. Victims have to forgive oppressors. The perpetrators of crimes against humanity have to admit their guilt and, with it, their arrogance.

But perhaps the difficulty of reconciling can best be seen in the case of the former police officer and the seven mothers mentioned above. Most of them broke down and had to be escorted out of the room during the hearing at the TRC on the request for amnesty by two of their killers. And, their pain and anger are inescapable at the beginning of their meeting with the officer. It is clear that it is not easy for them to forgive him; but it is also abundantly clear how far doing so relieves them of the pain they have carried inside them for years.

See also 2017-2020 Updates and Current Implications .

[1] Fen Osler Hampson, Nurturing Peace: Why Peace Settlements Succeed or Fail (Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace, 1996).

[2] Kenneth Boulding, Stable Peace Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1978.

[3] Long Night's Journey Into Day , a documentary film written and directed by Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffmann, produced by Frances Reid, Iris Films. Information about the film and a lot of associated information can be found at https://www.irisfilms.org/longnight/index.htm

Use the following to cite this article: Hauss, Charles (Chip). "Reconciliation." Beyond Intractability . Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: September 2003 < https://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/reconciliation >.

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Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, Essay Example

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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is highly prominent and the most advanced platform used by the country to provide a form of reconciliation and peace for the victims. In addition, open a platform for the past perpetrators that are guilty of inhumane treatment of others. The paper will provide ancritique while looking at the positive advantages of the TRC addressing all the information from those that are against the TRC. The TRC’s has a simple process that allows public amnesty inquires for the perpetrators while creating hearings to start the restorative process of healing. The TRC is a truth forum that presents the truth to reduce the number of inconsistent comments and lies that start wars and retribution. The TRC addresses the unchallenged information while healing the country(Hamber& Kibble 1).

The media does not like The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) because it brings together the victims of violated human rights and the group or people that did the violence. This is a noble jester regardless of the organization, party, or person attempting reconciliation instead of retaliation. Retaliation can exist for years and years without allowing both sides to heal and learn how to exist in the same region or country. Those countries that believe in globalizing and defending all human rights have the opportunity to bring these two parties together, which is good for any country, regardless of the agenda of the Truth and ReconciliationCommission. The reconciliation is a true commitment to undue any injustices and inhumane treatment to other people just because they have different beliefs. The first step is bridging the gap between violator and victim(Verwoerd 1).

It is easy to see the inconsistency of those against TRC becausethey condemn TRC because they do not address the community issues they deem important. The TRC commission concentrates on international humanitarian violations, human torture, genocide, and atrocious killing of human beings like animals. The TRC has help millions of Africans voices their concerns about being paid low wages in a lucrative economy of gold mining. In addition, to depriving the African people the same access to job training to succeed in the job market (Verwoerd 2). The support of the TRC should be welcomed by the people because they often bring information to the media and public otherwise would not be reported to the world.

History concerning human rights violation show that the perpetrator is never brought to justice because the state or government can never identified who was reasonable for the inhumane killing of people. In addition, bring the healing process to the forefront for the victims instead of starting another branch of retribution killings. The truth starts the healing process and slows down the retribution actions from the village of town. Conversely, the perpetrators openly come to the table while stopping violence(Wilson 1). (For many years the victims have never healed because they never received the chance to share the perpetrator how they change their lives. More importantly, the perpetrators are willing to publicly explain their sides about what they are fighting about. The South African people have face some many human rights violations that have not been solved and continue to pile up the bodies. The TRC is a good thing because pushes communication.

This action by the TRC that brings the human rights violator helps in several ways:

• The country does not start a war with the wrong parties who take claim for the attacks for the exposure in the news.
• The TRC brings the perpetrators to the table to accept the invitation and support of the TRC of amnesty, which allows the legal process to intervene with willing perpetrators.
• The TRC may not have the power to grant amnesty, however, they are stopping events of genocide by requesting the perpetrators to tell their sides
• This TRC helps builds a new South Africa because the human rights atrocities are being address in a civil manner rather than the alternative more killing, destruction of lives and more senseless wars
• The TRC brings restorative justice to the public. In relation to the United States when a great wrong has been done the people, riots stop when the two parties involved are in talks about the human rights violations. It’s the same premise TRC restores the lines of communication between opposing parties
• The TRC promotes healing to the victims by giving them a voice in the community, state, and government. In addition, the world has a chance to hear from the victim in their own words not the medias interpretation
• The political violence solutions are not working because they never find out which sector or group or political groups is responsible for the inhuman actions. The TRC helps identify both sides of the political problems which is not done by the South African authorities

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has the advantage to gathering all the documentation for the victim and perpetrators for the courts. This information is invaluable in the legal process but more important it is open the channels between unknown perpetrators and other violent groups. The TRC has open the conversation to addresses the current crimes against humanity including addressing the past transgression of genocide to bring both parties to the healing process of the country (Campbell 48). The people against the TRC do not understand that any environment that can allow the country to heal and show some positive actions helps prevent further bloodshed while the lengthy process goes to courts.

The advantages of the TRC are many because traditionally the religious groups do not respond to the government or the media claiming they have no agenda. However, religious groups will come forward if the amnesty is on the table during investigation with the legal authorities. Many times the religious extremist welcomes the platform to speak their piece, which may resolve many issues because they are not being heard. The best example is a religious sect is fighting against the government allowing a different religion to occupy their holy lands. However, with the TRC forum the government finds out they only want specific town in the region to remain intact. As a result, the government can grant the request because the majority the people that live in the religious town are Islamic. The TRC just negotiated a peaceful ending because the media did not get the chance to put all the Islamic groups into one class of violent people. In addition, the TRC helps with educating the public and media that the few religious groups do not represent all the entire class of people in that country.

It is the same effect in the United States when one person brings a bomb on a plane and the perpetrator is for example Canadian. The people will think that all people in Canada support the actions of the person from Canada. It is the same premise in South African. The perpetrator is Islamic extremist located in the north part of the country. The media will report the inhuman incident as if the entire Islamic country located in the northern parts agrees with their actions. The naysayers indicate that the commission never delivers on being an instrument that helps the legal system with legitimate investigating that makes change in the retribution cycle. The TRC is expected to fix what the government has not fixed over the years. It was not the TRC fault that created this inhumane atmosphere in the country. In response, the TRC had done more to create peace during the investigations because the victim and the perpetrators are using the media coverage to state their case. In the reality, any actions take that allows the cease-fire of killing even for a day is worth the TRC efforts.

Works Cited

Campbell, P.J. (2000) .The truth, and reconciliationcommission (TRC): Human rights and state transitions-The South African model. African Studies Quarterly, Vol. 4, 43-67

Hamber, B. & Kimble, S. (1999).From truth to transformation. The truth and reconciliation commission in South Africa. Catholic Institute for International Relations Report.pg 1.

Verwoerd, W. (1997).The TRC and Apartheid beneficiaries in a new dispensation. TRC Report. Vol 5, Ch.9

Wilson, R. (2001).The politics of truth and reconciliation in South Africa: Legitimatizing the Post-Apartheid State. Cambridge: Cambridge University

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Truth and Reconciliation in YOUR Classroom

How to get started, and who can help

by: Dr. Kate Freeman , Shawn McDonald , Dr. Lindsay Morcom

date: April 24, 2018

Editor's Pick

How teachers can integrate Truth and Reconciliation in their classrooms (3.36 MB / pdf)

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This is an exciting time to be a teacher. Teachers have amazing potential to help make Truth and Reconciliation a reality, and to move the next generation forward in creating a fairer, more just, and more inclusive Canada. It’s a big job, and one that many teachers approach with a bit of fear and more than a few questions.

The teachers in our schools want to do a great job. In addition, they often feel an overwhelming responsibility to right the wrongs of the past and inspire their students to seek equity and social justice. They recognize that infusing Indigenous histories, cultures and perspectives into educational curriculum is a way to contribute towards the goal of reconciliation by providing students with an opportunity to learn about the Indigenous people with whom they share the land, and on whose ancestral territories all Canadians currently reside. Unfortunately, these same teachers also know that they are being asked to inform students about an Indigenous people whom they themselves have learned little about. As well, many teachers have had little, if any, cultural sharing or first-hand experience with Indigenous people. It is not surprising then, that many teachers’ feelings range from nervous and unprepared to woefully inadequate when asked to bring these topics into their classrooms.

Developing pedagogy for reconciliation

To get started, we would like to explore some fundamental approaches to fostering reconciliation in your classroom. It’s very important that teachers realize that the education system has been used to rob Indigenous people of their languages, their cultures, and their communities through the residential school system. This is why teachers have a responsibility to work with Indigenous people, families, and communities, rather than continuing to work in a system that speaks for Indigenous people, families, and communities – that is, don’t do for , do with . It is also vital that teachers understand that doing nothing adds to the problem. When teachers do nothing, Indigenous children don’t see themselves in their classrooms, and non-Indigenous children do not learn about this land’s first – and continuing – inhabitants. Then, students implicitly learn that Indigenous people, knowledge, and perspectives are worth less, and they may continue to pass on the systemic injustices that have gotten us into this situation.

The challenge for teachers is that many don’t know how, or where, to begin. There are more than 50 First Nations in Canada, in addition to the distinct Métis and Inuit groups. If teachers are required to be experts on all these groups before teaching their students, then the teaching and the learning will never happen. Fortunately, teaching is not about having all the answers and teachers are not being asked to be experts on all of Canada’s Indigenous people.

However, the question then becomes: “How can teachers indigenize their classrooms well ?” Many teachers are understandably afraid of teaching Indigenous material poorly, perpetuating stereotypes or overstepping their bounds and engaging in cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation can take on many forms. It can be the adoption of elements of one culture into another without fully understanding or acknowledging their meaning. It can mean making use of sacred objects, like headdresses at Hallowe’en for example, without learning about why they are sacred or important. It can mean presenting Indigenous peoples as caricatures or as existing only in the past. It can mean speaking on behalf of Indigenous people or taking on elements of Indigenous spirituality without getting permission from qualified Indigenous knowledge keepers. Basically, cultural appropriation is taking and using important cultural elements that do not belong to you without learning about them first. It is setting yourself up as an expert on a culture you are not a part of, or not respecting the living existence of Indigenous people, the sophistication of Indigenous knowledge and spirituality, or the capability of Indigenous experts, Elders, and knowledge keepers.

Practically, there are steps you can take to avoid cultural appropriation but still incorporate Indigenous content in your classroom.

• Never dress, act or do activities that reduce a group into a caricature or stereotype. If it’s not accurate and respectful, it’s not OK.
• Don’t misuse anything of religious significance or cultural meaning, even if you don’t understand exactly why. If you’re not sure if something is sacred, it is important to ask or do your research.
• Don’t practice culture in your classroom, teach about culture in your classroom.
• Never appropriate someone else’s culture as your own – not even as a demonstration for students.
• Ask yourself: “If I were a member of the group in question, could I be offended?” Take history into account, and show empathy.

The task may seem daunting, but teachers across the country are reading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s “calls to action” and embracing the responsibility to teach for Truth and Reconciliation. They’re finding that there are many tools out there to help them succeed. Many teachers utilize a pedagogy rooted in student inquiry to facilitate this learning. The inquiry approach is a wonderful opportunity for teachers to move metaphorically from the position of all-knowing sage in front of their students, to co-learning partner sitting beside their students. In addition, recent and ongoing changes to curriculum in all provinces means not only that teachers are required to teach Indigenous topics, but that ministries of education are required to provide resources and supports for those teachers. Realistically however, it will take more than resources or a change in pedagogy to facilitate the change that is needed in education. It will take some time and some dedicated work.

 If the truth comes before the reconciliation, then Canadian teachers are at the forefront of this country’s future.

The truth is that reconciliation is about relationships, and you can’t have a relationship with someone you don’t know. A good place to start is to learn something about the Indigenous people with whom you share your land. It would be disappointing if students in Canadian classrooms learned more about the Maya and the Maori than they learned about the Salish and the Haudenosaunee. Every teacher in every classroom in Canada is teaching in a school that is physically connected to land that tells the story of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. Every day our students walk and play on land that has a history and a significance to Indigenous people. Imagine what our relationship would look like if everyone understood that significance, that history, and better understood the people whose enduring presence demands reconciliation. If the truth comes before the reconciliation, then Canadian teachers are at the forefront of this country’s future. It’s not about teaching everything, it’s about having the integrity and humility to teach something – and to teach it in a good way.

• Do, whenever possible, allow Indigenous people to speak for themselves. Inviting local Indigenous knowledge keepers into your classroom is an opportunity to forge new and ongoing relationships. If an Indigenous person cannot be present, there are excellent and well-vetted videos available.
• Don’t start with cultural genocide and residential schools. Indigenous people are not victims first. Take the time to learn about the many proud and resilient people who were impacted by Canada’s residential school system.
• Do learn about contemporary Indigenous people. Not only do they still exist, they are the fastest growing population in Canada. 1

Preparedness

Investing time to prepare yourself to teach Indigenous content is crucial to success and helps to build confidence. There are many opportunities available. For example, to better prepare yourself to teach Indigenous content, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) offers a great online resource called It’s Our Time: The AFN Tool Kit , available at www.afn.ca/education/toolkit . The tool kit has many classroom resources, as well as “Plain Talks” available on iTunes, or as PDFs, that will provide you with information on a wide variety of Indigenous topics, from treaties to languages.

Other ways to better prepare yourself include completing an online course, attending Indigenous events, participating in professional development activities offered through the school board or elsewhere, and engaging with Elders or knowledge keepers.  

Resources for reconciliation

The best resources are human resources. Indigenous people have time-tested knowledge systems, education, governance, and ways of raising children that are sophisticated and beautiful; you won’t regret taking the time to have conversations with Indigenous people in your community and learning about them. In some places, that isn’t easy and there is much healing to do. Some places where you can find experts on these matters include friendship centres, Indigenous Studies departments and Indigenous student services at universities, and most importantly, the Indigenous education experts that many school boards employ.

There are also many print and multimedia resources. The number of Indigenous authors is on the rise, and you can find classroom resources by Indigenous authors, including kits, books, and digital tools. When choosing resources, think about your students and their interests. Choosing resources that are relevant to your area will also make the content more meaningful to your students and teach them about the diversity of Indigenous Nations.

When you are vetting resources, look for these four things:

• Content and accuracy: Make sure that the content makes sense and portrays Indigenous people in a whole-person, fair way.
• Authorship: Try to privilege Indigenous authors. There are also many non-Indigenous people with expertise in Indigenous studies, but it is important to make sure that they do have authentic expertise. Do Internet searches to check authors’ biographies and credentials.
• Approachability: Choose resources that reflect where you are and who your students are. You can also connect students’ interests to Indigenous content. Choose a subject of interest and go from there.
• Diversity: Indigenous people have knowledge of content that touches on all subject areas, so teachers can integrate Indigenous content into any classroom. Including Indigenous content in every subject underlines the sophistication of Indigenous knowledge. You can also use Indigenous content to share diverse perspectives and compare mainstream and Indigenous views on historical and current events.

You can be a part of the move to teach for Truth and Reconciliation.  As Truth and Reconciliation Commission Chair Justice Murray Sinclair said, “…education, or what passed for it, got us into this situation, and education is what will lead us out.” 2 Teachers have great responsibility to move our society forward. But we are teachers. We love learning. We love our students. We shape minds and societies. We are up to the challenge.

Resources for  K-12  Teachers :

• Online sources like goodminds.com  or the Martin Family Initiative feature hundreds of vetted resources by Indigenous authors with clear curriculum connections across many subject areas.
• Universities and other education institutions often have great resources online. For the prairies, the University of Saskatchewan has an Indigenous Studies research portal you can find here: http://iportal.usask.ca/index.php?sid=134064592&t=index . In the Eastern Woodlands, Queen’s University has an outstanding website with Indigenous content that you can access here: http://guides.library.queensu.ca/aboriginal-curriculum-resources/native-studies-resources/websites . On the West Coast, the University of British Columbia has K-12 curriculum resources available online here: http://guides.library.ubc.ca/indigenous_ed_k12 .
• Provincial teachers’ federations and other organizations may have resources specifically designed to assist teachers in their work to support truth and reconciliation education in their classrooms. For example, see Joining the Circle: An Educator’s Toolkit to Support First Nations, Métis and Inuit Students , published in hard copy in October 2017 by the Ontario Teachers’ Federation (OTF) and the Centre ontarien de prévention des agressions (COPA), and available at http://copahabitat.ca/en/toolkits/joining-the-circle/guide-and-resources .
• For pan-Canadian topics like residential schools, check out the Hundred Years of Loss education kit developed by the Legacy of Hope Foundation. The “Kairos Blanket Exercise” offers an interactive exploration of Indigenous-Canadian relations with a focus on residential schools and reconciliation. It can be used in any classroom from Grade 4 to adult learners.

For additional resources, see: National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, University of Manitoba (www.nctr.ca)

First published in Education Canada , May 2018

1 Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2016.

2   Excerpt from presentation by the Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair to the Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, September 28, 2010, p.6. www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/pdfs/senate%20speech_handout_copy_E_Final.pdf

Meet the Expert(s)

Dr. Kate Freeman

Manager, Aboriginal Teacher Education Program Queen's University Faculty of Education

Dr. Kate Freeman has worked in the field of Indigenous education for over thirty years. After finishing an Honours B.A. in Native Studies at Trent University, she completed a Master’s degree and a d...

Shawn McDonald

Indigenous Education Lead - Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board

Shawn McDonald has spent 20 years as a Catholic educator in both elementary and secondary schools. He holds a Masters of Education Degree in the field of Aboriginal Education from the University of We...

Dr. Lindsay Morcom

Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Language Revitalization and Decolonizing Education

Dr. Lindsay Morcom (Ardoch Algonquin First Nation) is an interdisciplinary researcher with experience in education, Aboriginal languages, language revitalization, and linguistics. After earning her Ma...

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NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism

David Folkenflik

NPR suspended senior editor Uri Berliner for five days without pay after he wrote an essay accusing the network of losing the public's trust and appeared on a podcast to explain his argument. Uri Berliner hide caption

NPR suspended senior editor Uri Berliner for five days without pay after he wrote an essay accusing the network of losing the public's trust and appeared on a podcast to explain his argument.

NPR has formally punished Uri Berliner, the senior editor who publicly argued a week ago that the network had "lost America's trust" by approaching news stories with a rigidly progressive mindset.

Berliner's five-day suspension without pay, which began last Friday, has not been previously reported.

Yet the public radio network is grappling in other ways with the fallout from Berliner's essay for the online news site The Free Press . It angered many of his colleagues, led NPR leaders to announce monthly internal reviews of the network's coverage, and gave fresh ammunition to conservative and partisan Republican critics of NPR, including former President Donald Trump.

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo is among those now targeting NPR's new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the network. Among others, those posts include a 2020 tweet that called Trump racist and another that appeared to minimize rioting during social justice protests that year. Maher took the job at NPR last month — her first at a news organization .

In a statement Monday about the messages she had posted, Maher praised the integrity of NPR's journalists and underscored the independence of their reporting.

"In America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen," she said. "What matters is NPR's work and my commitment as its CEO: public service, editorial independence, and the mission to serve all of the American public. NPR is independent, beholden to no party, and without commercial interests."

The network noted that "the CEO is not involved in editorial decisions."

In an interview with me later on Monday, Berliner said the social media posts demonstrated Maher was all but incapable of being the person best poised to direct the organization.

"We're looking for a leader right now who's going to be unifying and bring more people into the tent and have a broader perspective on, sort of, what America is all about," Berliner said. "And this seems to be the opposite of that."

Conservative critics of NPR are now targeting its new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the public radio network last month. Stephen Voss/Stephen Voss hide caption

Conservative critics of NPR are now targeting its new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the public radio network last month.

He said that he tried repeatedly to make his concerns over NPR's coverage known to news leaders and to Maher's predecessor as chief executive before publishing his essay.

Berliner has singled out coverage of several issues dominating the 2020s for criticism, including trans rights, the Israel-Hamas war and COVID. Berliner says he sees the same problems at other news organizations, but argues NPR, as a mission-driven institution, has a greater obligation to fairness.

"I love NPR and feel it's a national trust," Berliner says. "We have great journalists here. If they shed their opinions and did the great journalism they're capable of, this would be a much more interesting and fulfilling organization for our listeners."

A "final warning"

The circumstances surrounding the interview were singular.

Berliner provided me with a copy of the formal rebuke to review. NPR did not confirm or comment upon his suspension for this article.

In presenting Berliner's suspension Thursday afternoon, the organization told the editor he had failed to secure its approval for outside work for other news outlets, as is required of NPR journalists. It called the letter a "final warning," saying Berliner would be fired if he violated NPR's policy again. Berliner is a dues-paying member of NPR's newsroom union but says he is not appealing the punishment.

The Free Press is a site that has become a haven for journalists who believe that mainstream media outlets have become too liberal. In addition to his essay, Berliner appeared in an episode of its podcast Honestly with Bari Weiss.

A few hours after the essay appeared online, NPR chief business editor Pallavi Gogoi reminded Berliner of the requirement that he secure approval before appearing in outside press, according to a copy of the note provided by Berliner.

In its formal rebuke, NPR did not cite Berliner's appearance on Chris Cuomo's NewsNation program last Tuesday night, for which NPR gave him the green light. (NPR's chief communications officer told Berliner to focus on his own experience and not share proprietary information.) The NPR letter also did not cite his remarks to The New York Times , which ran its article mid-afternoon Thursday, shortly before the reprimand was sent. Berliner says he did not seek approval before talking with the Times .

NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

Berliner says he did not get permission from NPR to speak with me for this story but that he was not worried about the consequences: "Talking to an NPR journalist and being fired for that would be extraordinary, I think."

Berliner is a member of NPR's business desk, as am I, and he has helped to edit many of my stories. He had no involvement in the preparation of this article and did not see it before it was posted publicly.

In rebuking Berliner, NPR said he had also publicly released proprietary information about audience demographics, which it considers confidential. He said those figures "were essentially marketing material. If they had been really good, they probably would have distributed them and sent them out to the world."

Feelings of anger and betrayal inside the newsroom

His essay and subsequent public remarks stirred deep anger and dismay within NPR. Colleagues contend Berliner cherry-picked examples to fit his arguments and challenge the accuracy of his accounts. They also note he did not seek comment from the journalists involved in the work he cited.

Morning Edition host Michel Martin told me some colleagues at the network share Berliner's concerns that coverage is frequently presented through an ideological or idealistic prism that can alienate listeners.

"The way to address that is through training and mentorship," says Martin, herself a veteran of nearly two decades at the network who has also reported for The Wall Street Journal and ABC News. "It's not by blowing the place up, by trashing your colleagues, in full view of people who don't really care about it anyway."

Several NPR journalists told me they are no longer willing to work with Berliner as they no longer have confidence that he will keep private their internal musings about stories as they work through coverage.

"Newsrooms run on trust," NPR political correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben tweeted last week, without mentioning Berliner by name. "If you violate everyone's trust by going to another outlet and sh--ing on your colleagues (while doing a bad job journalistically, for that matter), I don't know how you do your job now."

Berliner rejected that critique, saying nothing in his essay or subsequent remarks betrayed private observations or arguments about coverage.

Other newsrooms are also grappling with questions over news judgment and confidentiality. On Monday, New York Times Executive Editor Joseph Kahn announced to his staff that the newspaper's inquiry into who leaked internal dissent over a planned episode of its podcast The Daily to another news outlet proved inconclusive. The episode was to focus on a December report on the use of sexual assault as part of the Hamas attack on Israel in October. Audio staffers aired doubts over how well the reporting stood up to scrutiny.

"We work together with trust and collegiality everyday on everything we produce, and I have every expectation that this incident will prove to be a singular exception to an important rule," Kahn wrote to Times staffers.

At NPR, some of Berliner's colleagues have weighed in online against his claim that the network has focused on diversifying its workforce without a concomitant commitment to diversity of viewpoint. Recently retired Chief Executive John Lansing has referred to this pursuit of diversity within NPR's workforce as its " North Star ," a moral imperative and chief business strategy.

In his essay, Berliner tagged the strategy as a failure, citing the drop in NPR's broadcast audiences and its struggle to attract more Black and Latino listeners in particular.

"During most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed. We were nerdy, but not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding," Berliner writes. "In recent years, however, that has changed."

Berliner writes, "For NPR, which purports to consider all things, it's devastating both for its journalism and its business model."

NPR investigative reporter Chiara Eisner wrote in a comment for this story: "Minorities do not all think the same and do not report the same. Good reporters and editors should know that by now. It's embarrassing to me as a reporter at NPR that a senior editor here missed that point in 2024."

Some colleagues drafted a letter to Maher and NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, seeking greater clarity on NPR's standards for its coverage and the behavior of its journalists — clearly pointed at Berliner.

A plan for "healthy discussion"

On Friday, CEO Maher stood up for the network's mission and the journalism, taking issue with Berliner's critique, though never mentioning him by name. Among her chief issues, she said Berliner's essay offered "a criticism of our people on the basis of who we are."

Berliner took great exception to that, saying she had denigrated him. He said that he supported diversifying NPR's workforce to look more like the U.S. population at large. She did not address that in a subsequent private exchange he shared with me for this story. (An NPR spokesperson declined further comment.)

Late Monday afternoon, Chapin announced to the newsroom that Executive Editor Eva Rodriguez would lead monthly meetings to review coverage.

"Among the questions we'll ask of ourselves each month: Did we capture the diversity of this country — racial, ethnic, religious, economic, political geographic, etc — in all of its complexity and in a way that helped listeners and readers recognize themselves and their communities?" Chapin wrote in the memo. "Did we offer coverage that helped them understand — even if just a bit better — those neighbors with whom they share little in common?"

Berliner said he welcomed the announcement but would withhold judgment until those meetings played out.

In a text for this story, Chapin said such sessions had been discussed since Lansing unified the news and programming divisions under her acting leadership last year.

"Now seemed [the] time to deliver if we were going to do it," Chapin said. "Healthy discussion is something we need more of."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

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• uri berliner

Election Updates: Trump wins Pennsylvania primary, but remains haunted by Haley

• Share full article

Nicholas Nehamas

The Biden campaign will keep using TikTok, campaign officials said, even after President Biden on Wednesday signed a law that could ban the social media app because of its ties to China. Yesterday, the campaign’s TikTok account posted a video of Biden at an event in Florida. Many of the comments from users urged the president to “keep TikTok” instead of banning it.

Jonathan Weisman

The North America’s Building Trades Unions, flush with work from the bipartisan infrastructure bill, will endorse President Biden’s re-election on Wednesday, and promise a major campaign to deliver the votes of its 250,000 members in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. However, the Teamsters, a part of the building trades umbrella, remain coy, abstaining from the union board vote, CNN reported.

Neil Vigdor

George Conway, a conservative lawyer and fierce critic of Donald J. Trump, will headline a fund-raiser today for the Biden Victory Fund. Mr. Conway, the ex-husband of longtime Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, told CNN why he gave the maximum $929,600 to the fund. “Yeah, it’s going to come out of my kids’ inheritance. But the most important thing they can inherit is living in a constitutional democracy.”

Maggie Astor

An interesting data point from yesterday’s elections in Pennsylvania: Nikki Haley, who ended her campaign seven weeks ago, received more than 16 percent in the Republican presidential primary, including around 25 percent in some suburban counties around Philadelphia. If a chunk of Republicans remain unwilling to support Donald Trump, that has the potential to be significant in November.

Chris Cameron and Anjali Huynh

Three takeaways from the primaries in Pennsylvania.

With the 2024 primary season entering the homestretch — and the presidential matchup already set — hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians cast their ballots on Tuesday in Senate and House contests as well as for president and local races.

President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump, who had been heading toward a 2020 rematch for months before securing their parties’ nominations in March, scored overwhelming victories in their primaries, facing opponents who had long since dropped out of the race. But Nikki Haley, Mr. Trump’s former rival in the Republican primaries, still took more than 155,000 votes across the state. That exceeds the margin of 81,660 votes by which Mr. Biden won the state in the 2020 election .

In the past two weeks, Mr. Biden has had the campaign trail largely to himself while Mr. Trump sits in a Manhattan courtroom for a felony criminal trial related to a 2016 campaign sex scandal cover-up. Wednesday, however, is a day off from the proceedings.

Mr. Biden plans to deliver remarks today at a conference for North America’s Building Trades Unions, an umbrella labor group. Vice President Kamala Harris will be in New York today to record an interview with Drew Barrymore for her television talk show. Tomorrow, Mr. Biden will head to Syracuse, N.Y., for a White House event, while Mr. Trump will head back to court.

In Pennsylvania on Tuesday, a long-awaited Senate matchup was officially set, as David McCormick and Senator Bob Casey won their uncontested primaries.

And Representative Summer Lee, a progressive first-term Democrat, fended off a moderate challenger who had opposed her criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza. While Mr. Biden has faced protest votes in a number of states, Ms. Lee’s race was one of the first down-ballot tests of where Democrats stand on the war.

Here are three takeaways.

‘Scranton Joe’ Biden sails to victory. Trump meets resistance from Haley holdouts.

Mr. Biden, who grew up in Scranton, Pa., took nearly 95 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, scoring a yawning lead in a key battleground state. Representative Dean Phillips, who was on the ballot but dropped out of the race last month, got about 5 percent of the vote.

Mr. Trump also notched a decisive primary victory, but many Republican voters continued to express their discontent with the former president. At least 155,000 registered Republican voters cast ballots for Ms. Haley, who had been Mr. Trump’s chief rival in the primaries before dropping out of the race last month.

Ms. Haley, the former South Carolina governor, did not endorse Mr. Trump in exiting the race, and the Pennsylvania vote reflected his continuing difficulties in wooing her supporters and in fully winning over the Republican electorate. Ms. Haley won small but significant protest votes this month in G.O.P. primaries in Wisconsin , Rhode Island , Connecticut and New York , capturing at least 10 percent of the vote in each state.

Mr. Trump has shown little interest in winning Ms. Haley’s endorsement and has made few attempts to reach out to her supporters. It remains unclear whether his decision to bypass any reconciliation with Ms. Haley will matter as November approaches.

The results on Tuesday suggest that Mr. Biden is on surer footing with the Democratic base in Pennsylvania compared with other battleground states, like Michigan, where the president has faced significant numbers of protest votes focusing on his handling of the war in Gaza.

The Haley vote suggests Mr. Trump may have some work to do to bring her voters back to his side in the fall.

A progressive Democrat fended off a challenge that focused on her criticism of Israel’s military campaign.

Ms. Lee, a first-term progressive Democrat who represents a Pittsburgh-area district, was an early critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, where about 34,000 people have died since the war began six months ago. Ms. Lee’s stances against Israel’s military campaign drew a primary challenge from Bhavini Patel, a moderate Democrat who opposed Ms. Lee’s approach on the war.

But Ms. Lee emerged victorious, suggesting that public sentiment on the war, particularly among Democrats, has shifted significantly against Israel in the six months since the war began.

Trump shut McCormick out of his first Senate run. Now they share the Republican ticket.

Mr. McCormick won an unopposed Republican primary for Senate in Pennsylvania, pitting him against Mr. Casey, the Democratic incumbent. While Mr. McCormick had no rivals this time around, his victory represents something of a redemption arc after his defeat in his first Senate primary run in the state in 2022.

He is positioned with the best chance yet for Republicans to unseat Mr. Casey, an 18-year incumbent who has previously sailed to re-election. He defeated his previous Republican opponent in 2018 by 13 points , and an analysis by the Cook Political Report rates the race as leaning toward the Democrats.

Mr. Trump helped sink Mr. McCormick’s first run when he backed a rival candidate, the celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz . In a race that hung on a knife’s edge, Mr. Trump’s backing of Dr. Oz, and his scorching attacks against Mr. McCormick, proved decisive — Dr. Oz eked out a win by fewer than a thousand votes.

Mr. McCormick has earned the endorsement of Mr. Trump for the coming battle against Mr. Casey, and they will share adjoining places at the top of Pennsylvania’s ballot in November.

Nick Corasaniti

Homeless Georgians could face hurdles to voting under new legislation.

After more than 40 years of struggling with drug addiction and homelessness, Barry Dupree has a distinct memory of a milestone in his recovery: casting a ballot in the 2020 election.

“I felt like a human being, I felt like I was part of the world,” Mr. Dupree, 64, said. He had gotten sober and found shelter at Gateway Center in Fulton County. “I felt as though my word was listened to, my suggestion of who I wanted was heard.”

There are thousands of voters like Mr. Dupree across Georgia and the country, those experiencing homelessness who are able to vote with the proper identification. They receive election related-mail at shelters, relatives’ addresses, temporary locations or P.O. boxes, and the vast majority vote in person.

A single-sentence provision in a new election bill in Georgia could complicate voting for some of the state’s homeless population. The bill, which has passed both chambers of the State Legislature and is awaiting Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature, would require all election-related mail for those “homeless and without a permanent address” — such as registration cards, sample ballots and absentee ballots — to be sent to the county registrar office.

The full impact of the change is unclear. Under the bill, voters who are homeless would need to go to the county registrar’s office to see if their registration was up-to-date, to learn about a change in a polling location or request and receive an absentee ballot. Voters with a permanent residence would receive information like this at their homes.

If there were no changes or additional documentation required for their registration, they would still be able to vote in person. It was unclear whether the changes applied to people in domestic abuse shelters or other temporary housing.

For many homeless voters, an additional trip to the government office can constitute a heavy burden, voting rights groups and homeless activists say. It could create unnecessary and long travel times, taxing an already chronically poor population, and cause confusion for voters who have a low voting propensity and an even lower access to news and information.

“I think it would make it incredibly difficult for many in the homeless population, because of transportation and where those facilities might be located,” said Donald H. Whitehead Jr., the executive director for the National Coalition for the Homeless, a nonprofit group. “A lot of shelters are in rural locations with limited transportation, so if someone was needing to go to this one specific location, it is really problematic.”

State Senator Max Burns, the Republican sponsor of the bill, did not respond to requests for comment. Garrison Douglas, a spokesman for Mr. Kemp, a Republican, said that the office was still reviewing the legislation.

It’s difficult to know how many homeless people typically vote in Georgia. One estimate by Fair Fight, the voting rights organization founded by Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic state representative, there were roughly 7,500 people who had registered to vote using a homeless shelter as their address in the five biggest counties in the state. More than 1,500 of those voted in recent elections, the group found.

The 2020 presidential race in Georgia was decided by less than 12,000 votes.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that there were 582,500 people experiencing homelessness in 2022 . A 2012 study by the National Coalition for the Homeless found that roughly 10 percent of registered voters who are homeless cast a ballot in that election. For comparison, 71 percent of adults over 65 voted in the 2012 election, according to the U.S. Census Bureau .

Aside from the homelessness provision, the new legislation largely focuses on election administration. It requires new voting technology and makes it easier for a voter to challenge another voter’s eligibility. Activists have criticized the bill as unnecessary and rooted in debunked theories about Democrats committing rampant voter fraud.

“It’s part of a time-honored tradition in Georgia: block the vote by any means necessary to hold onto power,” said Dr. Carol Anderson, a board member of Fair Fight Action.

Raphael Holloway, the chief executive at Gateway Center, said the organization encourages civil engagement, as part of its case management and care, “whether that’s through volunteerism, and or through civic engagement through becoming a registered voter.” He said the shelter had about 500 voters registered at its address.

William Dupree, a 70-year old Army veteran, is one of those. He became homeless in August after he, his wife and his grandchildren were priced out of their old apartment, he said. While at Gateway, Mr. Dupree has sought to stay engaged, tuning into a virtual town hall held by his congresswoman from the Gateway dormitory.

The new bill, he said, could make his civic participation harder.

“It would, it would,” he said. “Because they try to change everything, like every election, there’s a rule change. And the bigger the election, the more impact of a lot of the changes.”

Anjali Huynh

Reported from Pittsburgh

Summer Lee, ‘Squad’ member, wins Democratic House primary in Pennsylvania.

Representative Summer Lee, a first-term progressive Democrat, won her primary contest in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, fending off a moderate challenger in a race that centered on her stance on the war in Gaza.

The primary, in Pennsylvania’s 12th District, presented one of this year’s first down-ballot tests of whether left-wing incumbents would be hurt by their opposition to Israel’s military campaign. After Ms. Lee for months faced scrutiny for voting against support for Israel, her victory was partly seen as a reflection of how public, and party , sentiment on the issue has appeared to shift in her favor.

The congresswoman was winning by an overwhelming margin with counting nearly complete late Tuesday, underlining the strength of her position as an incumbent this year after she out-raised her opponent with widespread backing from Democratic officials.

Ms. Lee, who in 2022 was elected the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress and later joined the group of left-leaning lawmakers known as the Squad, defeated Bhavini Patel, a city councilwoman in Edgewood, Pa. Ms. Patel ran as a more moderate Democrat and tried to paint Ms. Lee as dismissive of voters who oppose her approach to the conflict in Gaza. The seat is considered safely Democratic in the general election.

A former state representative, Ms. Lee, 36, narrowly won a primary fight in the district two years ago against a centrist opponent favored by the party’s establishment. Her victory was heralded by left-leaning organizations and leaders as a win for the progressive movement.

This year, Ms. Lee, now the incumbent, garnered support across the Democratic spectrum. Her endorsers included Pennsylvania’s senators, House Democratic leaders, labor unions and the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, which opposed her candidacy in 2022. Progressive groups spent large sums on her behalf, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, stumped for her in Pittsburgh on Sunday .

With more than 95 percent of the vote counted, she led Ms. Patel by more than 20 points. Ms. Lee played up that success as a testament that “our movement is growing” and denounced those who she said “wanted to make this a referendum on just one issue.”

“Our movement is expansive enough and big enough for each and every one of us, that each and every one of us can lay down our arms and cease fire so that we can have peace from Pittsburgh to Palestine,” she said.

In the fall, after Ms. Lee became one of the first Democrats to call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, pro-Israel groups expressed interest in backing a challenger. But a serious opponent never materialized. AIPAC, the pro-Israel group that is supporting challenges to some left-wing candidates and that spent heavily against Ms. Lee in 2022, focused its attention elsewhere . Polls have shown that discontent with Israel’s military actions has been growing among Americans in recent months .

Still, Ms. Lee drew criticism in her district from some Jewish voters, who said in the days before the election that they were unhappy with her positions on Israel. Ms. Patel, 30, also tried to cast her opponent as insufficiently supportive of President Biden. Ms. Lee has pledged to rally her coalition to support Mr. Biden this fall in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state.

Ms. Lee and her allies seized on Ms. Patel’s support from Jeff Yass, a prominent Republican donor in Pennsylvania who gave significantly to a super PAC supporting moderate Democrats. The group ran ads on behalf of Ms. Patel, who disavowed Mr. Yass and his support.

Ms. Patel said in a statement on social media that “we did not get the result we wanted tonight, but this race was far from a loss.” “While our campaign may end tonight, our cause continues on,” she added.

During the primary, Ms. Lee often promoted her record in Congress, including having brought federal dollars to the district, and framed her candidacy around supporting a more diverse Democratic Party and fighting Trump-aligned Republicans. She vastly out-raised Ms. Patel. In the last fund-raising quarter, Ms. Lee collected more than three times as much money as Ms. Patel did.

Speaking to an energetic crowd in downtown Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, Ms. Lee also pledged to support her fellow Squad members facing challenges nationwide.

“We’re going to send a message to our Congress, and we’re going to send a message to our nation, that the direction that we want our country to go in — our coalition — is the coalition of now and the coalition of the future,” she said.

Michael Gold

George Santos decides not to run for Congress again, after all.

In the litany of lies and half-truths told by George Santos in a fanciful journey in which he was first elected to and then expelled from Congress, the one he told about his nascent campaign for a different House seat on Long Island was not exactly a lie.

It just wasn’t true for very long.

Less than seven weeks after announcing he would try to return to the House of Representatives, Mr. Santos, the fabulist ex-congressman from New York who is facing federal charges, said on Tuesday that he would end his latest congressional bid.

In a turn perhaps befitting of Mr. Santos, whose loose association with the truth has been extensively documented , he offered two distinct reasons for his exit from the race.

In a social media post, Mr. Santos said he was worried that he and Representative Nick LaLota, the Republican he was running to unseat, might split conservative votes. “I don’t want to split the ticket and be responsible for handing the House to Dems,” he wrote.

Mr. Santos, who has made questionable claims of Jewish ancestry and invented ties to the Holocaust, said he was particularly concerned given “the rise of antisemitism in our country.”

George Santos Lost His Job. Here Are the Lies, Charges and Questions Left.

George Santos, who was expelled from Congress, has told so many stories they can be hard to keep straight. We cataloged them, including major questions about his personal finances and his campaign fund-raising and spending.

Minutes after Mr. Santos’s post, the talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw shared a clip of an interview conducted earlier in the day in which Mr. Santos stated more pragmatic reasoning.

“There’s no way for you to be successful with an independent campaign,” said Mr. Santos, no stranger to shifting explanations. (A spokesman said the interview would air in full next month on “Dr. Phil Primetime.”)

Mr. Santos’s decision abruptly ends a long-shot bid to return to Washington; it was never even clear if he intended to mount a serious challenge.

The former congressman lost all standing among local political leaders and most voters, who associate him more with his bold prevarications about his career than with any particular political views.

And Mr. Santos, who has been accused of defrauding donors, was expected to face difficulties raising campaign funds. According to campaign finance reports, the former congressman — who faces charges tied to falsifying campaign finance reports — did not raise any money in the initial sprint after he announced his campaign.

Mr. LaLota, an incumbent running in a right-leaning district, never took the threat of Mr. Santos’s campaign seriously.

Shortly after Mr. Santos said he was ending his bid, Mr. LaLota replied on social media, “Chat GPT translation: He’s taking a plea deal.”

Mr. Santos last year became the sixth member of the House to be expelled in that body’s history. His removal, which came in an overwhelming bipartisan vote, came after a House Ethics Committee report found “substantial evidence” that Mr. Santos had broken federal laws, depicting his time in politics as a grift he had used to get richer.

Mr. Santos is currently facing 23 federal felony charges that include money laundering, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors have accused him of swindling donors, filing false campaign finance documents and collecting unemployment checks while he in fact had a job.

The House Ethics report also found that he had spent campaign funds on Botox, designer goods and a website known for explicit content.

After his expulsion last year, Mr. Santos bitterly vowed he would never come back. Months later, he had gone back on his word, traveling to the Capitol for the State of the Union address and then announcing his intention to return to the House.

Mr. Santos’s criminal trial is scheduled for September. In his social media post, he did not rule out a return to the political arena, saying his decision was limited to “THIS YEAR!”

“It’s only goodbye for now,” Mr. Santos wrote. “I’ll be back.”

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