The Final Report of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission contained 94 Calls to Action. With little public outcry, there have been few substantive changes since its release in 2015 and the extent to which non-Indigenous “Settlers” support Reconciliation is not well understood. Importantly, emerging theories posit that in order for social justice efforts to succeed, the special powers and privileges of dominant groups like Settlers must be harnessed.
Within this context, Dr. Andrea Perrella and I examine Settler attitudes towards a range of Calls to Action through quantitative analyses of multi-year survey data which, by the end of the project, will be one of the largest databases of Settler public opinions of Indigenous peoples and issues ever created. We are currently under contract with McGill-Queen’s University Press to deliver a co-authored manuscript by June 2024. Our book, Squandered Second Chance? Paths to Reconciliation in Canada, will offer insights on the state of Reconciliation, practices of justice in Canada, why gaps between symbolic and substantive actions exist, and what constrains or enables support for Reconciliation.
This wide-ranging book will provide chapter-length explorations of the state of Reconciliation in Canada, atrocities and repression systems against Indigenous peoples, Canadian transitional justice, Settlers as an analytical category, how to make Reconciliation real through action, the need to overcome genocide denial as the final stage of atrocity, how to foster the first step towards justice with the cultivation of thin sympathy, and empathetic deepening of interpersonal connections. We also include chapters examining how intergroup contact and proximity may affect Settler support for Reconciliation, how Settlers conceptualize themselves and Indigenous peoples, and the dire need for genuine leadership to move the needle on Reconciliation.
Within this context, Dr. Andrea Perrella and I examine Settler attitudes towards a range of Calls to Action through quantitative analyses of multi-year survey data which, by the end of the project, will be one of the largest databases of Settler public opinions of Indigenous peoples and issues ever created. We are currently under contract with McGill-Queen’s University Press to deliver a co-authored manuscript by June 2024. Our book, Squandered Second Chance? Paths to Reconciliation in Canada, will offer insights on the state of Reconciliation, practices of justice in Canada, why gaps between symbolic and substantive actions exist, and what constrains or enables support for Reconciliation.
This wide-ranging book will provide chapter-length explorations of the state of Reconciliation in Canada, atrocities and repression systems against Indigenous peoples, Canadian transitional justice, Settlers as an analytical category, how to make Reconciliation real through action, the need to overcome genocide denial as the final stage of atrocity, how to foster the first step towards justice with the cultivation of thin sympathy, and empathetic deepening of interpersonal connections. We also include chapters examining how intergroup contact and proximity may affect Settler support for Reconciliation, how Settlers conceptualize themselves and Indigenous peoples, and the dire need for genuine leadership to move the needle on Reconciliation.
Photo: Mohawk Institute Residential School, Territory of the Six Nations of the Grand River.
Source: Wikimedia Commons, 1932.
Source: Wikimedia Commons, 1932.