Municipal Truth and Reconciliation Training

The City of Brandon holds its commitment to Truth and Reconciliation, specifically Call to Action #57, in high regard.

It has been seven years since Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended 94 Calls to Action. Number fifty-seven states, and the City of Brandon commits to “provide education to public servants on the history of Aboriginal peoples, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations. This will require skills based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism”.

Early this year our Human Resource Department sat down with the Brandon Urban Aboriginal Peoples’ Council and create a plan to provide Truth and Reconciliation training to employees. It is a daunting task to provide adequate learnings for our 700 employees working different shifts, some in the field while others are in a variety of locations and all with unique and varying degrees of understanding and commitment. Our goal this year was to gain some inertia. We knew early on that simply diving in and starting was as important as anything. The design of our program, therefore, was based on intuition and trainer availability. Brandon Urban Aboriginal Peoples’ Council was a big help in this regard. Of course, we had a finite training budget.

Below is a brief description of the City of Brandon’s staff training program, not presented as a best-practice but rather as a guide to show how simple starting can be.

2022 Training Plan:

Mandatory Department Head Training - Tim O’Loan, former advisor to Honourable Murray Sinclair who was chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, spent a week in Brandon delivering four powerful messages to Brandon University faculty, Brandon School Division leaders, general public and City of Brandon management. The sessions delivered an inside view of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, inclusion and diversity, mental health and self-care. To learn more about Tim O’Loan go to: Tim O'Loan First Nation Expert - Speakers Bureau of Canada (speakerscanada.com)

Joint Training with Sioux Valley First Nation - The not-for-profit called Circles for Reconciliation provided a day-long interactive session where 50 percent of the attendees where indigenous and 50 percent non-indigenous. The session was a six-hours introduction into reconciliation and was attended by 30 City employees who volunteered for this training.

Volunteers for Truth and Reconciliation Week – City employees are encouraged to participate in our week long festivities. Recognizing much learning is within the realm of active engagement, paid assistant opportunities were offered to City staff. This week a dozen employees are “volunteering” for a day to help make the event a raving success but more importantly, learning is afoot.

Land acknowledgement – Recognizing that people lived on the lands we call Brandon for a millennia, City staff now have a land acknowledgement statement to honour and respect the past while looking toward the future.

Online training – The City is considering sources of on-line training where employees can learn at their leisure.

Circles for Reconciliation – Stemming from a positive experience earlier this year, the City is contemplating Circles for Reconciliation as a series. To learn more on Circles for Reconciliation go to: Circles for Reconciliation – Reconciliation Begins With Each and Every One of Us

My?commitment in honouring the?principles of Truth and Reconciliation is to post daily on this forum during Truth and Reconciliation week?of what our community and my organization, the City of Brandon, is doing to meet the Calls to Action. This is my second post. If you are a local?government leader or a community-minded person I hope Brandon’s initiatives provide you with inspiration to increase your?reconciliation efforts.