It takes time and occasionally there are bumps in the road and we have to stick to it as we move forward. "Does that mean reconciliation is a quick, simple, straightforward process? No. We are committed to righting the wrongs of 150 years or more, and I think our government has made that absolutely clear," Garneau said Friday in an interview airing today on CBC Radio's The House. We might then perhaps be closer to arriving at our destination of being a reconciled nation.Transport Minister Marc Garneau says blockades of rail lines and other protests across Canada in support of Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs won't distract the federal government from its goal of reconciling the historic grievances of First Nations. If such a path could be conceived and embarked upon, out of it much good could come.Īnd a better nation we would be for having found the courage. True justice may never be arrived at, but what we may achieve might give us peace and mutual respect.Īfter more than 200 years, we Aboriginal people are due at least that respect and courtesy.
Whatever differences we have between us as societies we need today to find the collective courage to negotiate our way through them, to mutually agreed outcomes. These matters have never been acknowledged or honestly faced up to so that justice might result. This is what has been taken from us, along with our lands, our spirituality and unique societal framework. There has to be acceptance that we are a collection of diverse peoples with our own uniqueness and we are entitled to be as such. When they desist from constantly demanding we conform to every facet of mainstream society that wants to break down or deny who we are, especially with regard to our unique relationship to our land and community. Its reconciliation will come when governments stop trying to make us the same as everyone else.
The past is not going to be forgotten or forgiven. Some have likened this to a mass incarceration of a people. Given that we make-up only 2.5 per cent of the national population, that arguably makes Indigenous Australians one of the most jailed people in the world. Indigenous people now comprise approximately 26 per cent of the national prisoner population. It remains though for much more to be done.Ĭertainly, we must all ask whether what we are doing is effective when we have a system that has seen youth suicide increase and incarceration rates of Indigenous people double over the past 20 years. It is important to acknowledge the gains that have been made to date because it is these successes we should learn from and build upon. Progress has been slow, but there have been some improvements, particularly in the area of Indigenous health. There are multiple factors associated with the causes of Indigenous disadvantage, many of which interact with each other.Ĭlosing the Gap targets have been identified to focus effort on improving outcomes in certain areas. Indigenous disadvantage is complex, in the main because it is multi-faceted, historical and inter-generational in nature. This is an edited transcript of his lecture:Īddressing disadvantage still remains one of the major on-going challenges of reconciliation, and Indigenous Affairs policy more specifically. His brother, Professor Mick Dodson AM, is also a national Indigenous Australian leader and is Director of the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at ANU. He is Adjunct Professor at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Broome where he lectures in spirituality and the challenge of reconciliation.
Professor Dodson lives in Broome with his family, where he is involved in social, cultural, economic and environmental sustainability through his roles as Chair of the Lingiari Foundation and Executive Chair of Nyamba Buru Yawuru. He was a Royal Commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the inaugural Chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and Co-Chair of the Expert Panel for Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians. He is a recipient of the Sydney International Peace Prize. Professor Dodson has dedicated his life's work to improving relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
Professor Patrick Dodson, a Yawuru man from Broome in Western Australia, reflects on the politics and challenges of Australia's reconciliation journey in the most recent Annual ANU Reconciliation Lecture.
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