'Walking together': Indigenous reconciliation efforts create a new path forward

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When the curtain raises on Edmonton's Fringe Festival this summer, there will be an unprecedented Indigenous feel to the event.

For the first time, the oldest and largest fringe theatre festival in North America will honour the Indigenous community in ways it never has before.

"I think it's happening now because we are awakening," says Murray Utas, the festival's artistic director.

In this time of reconciliation, the Fringe Festival is not alone amongEdmonton organizations committed to reshaping the way they do things.

Get past the guilt, get on with the future

With elders and spiritual leaders providing advice, theOld Strathcona festival is planning to incorporateceremonies of honourthroughout its 10 days.

"We are at a social awareness where this can have resonance for us," says Utas,"where we can actually hear it and start to find a way of walking together."

That idea of walking togetheris not a first for the Fringe, which has embraced Indigenous performances and artists in the past.

What is new is the level of that commitment.

The adjustments at the festival this summer are the latest in a number of initiatives the Fringe has been taking since the calls to action made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015.

This year, they have more confidence to do it right after connecting with an Edmonton company called Naheyawin, which has been guiding them to think a little differently about theplace of Indigenous culture in the festival.

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One of the new things the company is doing is talking to people about what it means to be living in Treaty 6 territory.

"After the TRC report, how do we bring Edmonton to that next level of saying 'OK, how do we take that and really bring it to the next step?'," says Jacquelyn Cardinal, a co-founder of Naheyawin.

Cardinal wants people to get past the guilt many feel for the past and look forward to making things better.

The company is holding roundtable discussions to teachpeople about the treatiesthe kind of relationships they were supposed to create when they were signed,the way things could be today if everyone followed their spirit and intent.

The roundtables are based on the Cree word Tatawawwhich means:"There is room for you. Welcome."

'Voicing the whispers of those generations'

The focus of these roundtables is on the treaties, and they're not to be consideredIndigenous awareness courses. They areworkshops that are geared to educatingcompanies and their employees about the treaties and how they apply today.

"They have a place in the treaty relationship that was envisioned when Treaty 6 was signed," says Hunter Cardinal, who co-founded Naheyawin alongside his sister Jacquelyn.

"But in order to make a relationship that lasts, you have to have that peace, you have to have that understanding."

To help build that peace and understanding, the Fringe expects to host gatherings where stories will be told.

And 24-year-oldHunterCardinal will be front and centre with his own one-man show, onehehopes to stage in the river valley just as has happened for thousands of years.

He's even hoping to get a fire going.

"It's like I'm just voicing the whispers of those generations from the past," he says. "We're really trying to do the best that we can so that they would be proud."

Churches doinghealing and education work

This evolving progression of coming together in the spirit of reconciliation is slowly permeating the city, with various groups taking initiatives to start the process of change.

A collection of United Church congregations and people from other faith backgrounds are part of a movement called Moving Forward with Reconciliation.

According to Cecile Fausak, a retired minister, "It's a case of walking the talk and living out those apologies."

• Read more in our series Edmonton: The New Capital

Fausak, who spent the last 12 years of her ministry working on reconciliation projects, says the church is working to educate its congregations using a number of learning opportunities including Indigenous-themed movie nights.

Those who attend get to play a part in choosing the movie, then follow up with questions.

Adrian Lachance is there with the answers.

Lachanceis the Indigenous resourceco-ordinatorwith the not-for-profitCandoraSociety, which supports families in northeast Edmonton.

With a painful family history involving residential schools, he has dedicated himself to reconciliation.

"It's to bring people together and talk about the history of First Nations people so they get a better understanding of what we've been through and some of the struggles we're dealing with today," he says.

The 45-year-oldis heartened by what hebelieves isashift in attitude in Edmonton.

Others have a less optimistic view of things.

For Indigenous business owners in Edmonton, it feels like two steps forward and one step back as they waitfor the kindsof change they hoped the TRC would bring.

'The more they stay the same'

Robb Campre co-foundedAksis, an association of about 50 Indigenous companies in the Edmonton area, to push for more inclusion In the business world.

The idea was that the association would help increase its members access to contracts in the region's big construction and resource development projects.

But Campre says the breakthrough is yet to materialize and many companies still feel on the outside.

"The more things change, the more things stay the same," he says.

Campre, president of the site maintenance business Ogakie Industries, has been urging the governments of Alberta and Edmonton to remodel their contract bidding processes.

Governments examining contracts

"It would be great for the city and the province to have a 'set-aside program' or an Indigenous procurement strategy to allow Indigenous participation into the economy," he says.

It's not a new request.

Campre isreminded of a photo from the 1960s he saw at the Royal Alberta Museum; Indigenous people were asking for the same inclusion back then. "It's frustrating."

There are no promises yet, but the province and city both say they're working on the issue,examining current agreements that are in place.

Campre is still putting the pressure on behind the scenes for the kind of reconciliation approach he believes could make the most difference for Edmonton's Indigenous populationtoday.

Read more stories from Edmonton: The New Capital on cbc.ca/edmonton or listen to CBC Radio One, 93.9 FM/740 AM.