Reconciliation Network Coordination Hub
Overview
The Reconciliation Network is partnership between the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). It was created to support the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 65, which calls for the establishment of a national research program to advance the collective understanding of reconciliation.
Call to Action #65: “We call upon the federal government, through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, post-secondary institutions and educators, and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and its partner institutions, to establish a national research program with multi-year funding to advance understanding of reconciliation.”
The NCTR hosts the Reconciliation Network’s Coordination Hub. This hub coordinates the six research projects that make up the Reconciliation Network.
The focus of the research projects ranges from amplifying Indigenous stories to locating and commemorating residential school burial landscapes, and play a crucial role in advancing Indigenous research, research training, and knowledge mobilization in the social sciences and humanities.
These projects are located across Canada with representation from different Indigenous nations, from coast to coast to coast. The projects are led by Indigenous project directors, with Indigenous communities and organizations as co-directors and collaborators.
The knowledge gathered and shared by the projects will be connected directly to communities and accessible to everyone.
Background
Call to Action 65 was developed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as one of the 94 calls to action they deployed in order to carry out the legacy of Truth and Reconciliation for Indigenous peoples across Canada that the TRC could not expand on during their short term.
Over several years, the SSHRC and the NCTR met for special gatherings with Elders and Knowledge Keepers at Turtle Lodge to ground their partnership to fulfil Call to Action 65 in ceremony and traditional practices. From these gatherings and many other discussions, the framework for this joint initiative was co-developed and put into practice.
In November of 2022, a call was released by SSHRC and the NCTR calling for projects led by Indigenous scholars and Indigenous community collaborators to be a part of the nation-wide Reconciliation Research Network. In the spring of 2024, the six projects that have been selected to make up the Reconciliation Network were selected and notified.
FAQ
NCTR’s spirit name – bezhig miigwan, meaning “one feather”.
Bezhig miigwan calls upon us to see each Survivor coming to the NCTR as a single eagle feather and to show those Survivors the same respect and attention an eagle feather deserves. It also teaches we are all in this together — we are all one, connected, and it is vital to work together to achieve reconciliation.