Transcript
Speaker: I'm Jane Williams. This is the Red Eye Podcast. You can hear our live broadcast on Saturday mornings from 10 till noon at 100 .5 FM in the Lower Mainland. Today, Laurentianism speaks with Clara Prager from Women Transforming Cities on their report about the progress towards and barriers to implementation of TRC calls to action in BC municipalities.
Speaker: A new report by Women Transforming Cities looks at ways to accelerate the implementation of the truth and reconciliation calls to action within municipalities. In the introduction, Ginger Gosnow Meyers says, as 78 % of Indigenous peoples in BC live, work, and study in urban and off -reserve areas, municipalities play perhaps the largest role in fostering Indigenous relations.
Speaker: Yet researchers found that almost half of municipalities identified a lack of knowledge and understanding about the calls to action and how to implement them as a substantial challenge. The report is called The Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action in BC, Municipalities, Progress, Barriers, and Opportunities to Accelerate Implementation. And I'm joined by one of the authors, Clara Prager. Hi, Clara. Hi, thanks for having me on. Yeah, it's really good to talk to you.
Speaker: Why did women transforming cities embark on this project? Yeah, so this work came about because we heard repeatedly from indigenous leaders that settler settler led organizations need to prioritize the calls to action. The TRC calls are really our roadmap to reconciliation. They were created by survivors to guide the work that is needed. And the progress on them has been
Speaker: all too slow in the seven years since that has been published. So we've been hearing that we really need to step up. Everybody has a role to play and local governments in particular have a really critical role in implementing
Speaker: these survivor -led recommendations, but nobody was tracking the progress and nobody was looking at how we can accelerate this work. So we wanted to use our knowledge and our relationships as an advocacy organization that specializes in local government to take a look at some of the progress, what good work is happening, and where can we do more, where are the challenges that we can address so that these urgent actions are realized in our communities.
Speaker: Do the research and engage with participants? Yeah, so the work was guided by Indigenous leaders, but we wanted to really put the onus for taking responsibility for this work on local governments themselves. So we put together a survey and municipalities self -reported on their progress on 10 of the calls to action that pertain to local government jurisdiction.
Speaker: So we ask folks in communities across the province, ranging from tiny little villages of less than 400 people to major urban centers and hearing from mayors, counselors, senior staff in all these regions. We ask them about the progress that they are making on these 10 calls and the barriers that they're encountering and what they need to get this work done more quickly.
Speaker: What kind of appetite did you find amongst the responding municipal actors for moving forward on reconciliation?
Speaker: One of the really encouraging things about this work, in some of the findings, the progress has been slow, but there is a really strong appetite for taking action. Local leaders across the whole province are really eager to see this work. They really see it as important. And some of what we heard is that this is essential work for us to thrive as a community. So that's very heartening to see.
Speaker: However, we did hear about some barriers that are slowing progress, and we hope that this report can help to address some of those barriers. Let's dig into the barriers a little bit. What were some of the important barriers that face municipalities in starting to work on and making progress on the TRC calls?
Speaker: Yeah, so there's several that we identify, well, that local leaders identify in the report. So resource limitations and staff capacity is a big one. Education and knowledge sharing is a big one. But really, most of these barriers boil down to investment. Reconciliation isn't free. It's taken
Speaker: hundreds of years and a really high cost to indigenous communities to arrive at where we are today. So in order to really address that, we have to say that if these calls to action are a priority, we need to fund them as if they are the urgent actions that they are. So for reconciliation to become a reality, we need to put the money behind these actions to get those results.
Speaker: And I understand there was also a lack of clarity and direction from senior governments to help move this forward on a municipal level. What did you find there? Yeah, this was one of the barriers that we heard about frequently from local leaders. They really are
Speaker: craving some more clarity and direction from senior governments in how they can do this work. There's really, there's an appetite for action. But one example is, you know, on UNDRIP in call to action number 47, which asks for the adoption and implementation of UNDRIP. I think local leaders really see the importance of this, but there's a bit of confusion about what their role is. And we, in the report, we have some recommendations of how the provincial government can
Speaker: really support municipalities in making that a reality and making it clear for them what the expectations are. So if you want to know more specifically about that, take a look at that section of the report on our website. As I mentioned in my introduction, in the survey, almost half, it was 49 % of municipalities identified a lack of knowledge and understanding about the calls of action and how to implement them. It was a substantial challenge as a result.
Speaker: What guidance and resources do you provide to municipalities who are trying to take up the challenge in your report? Yeah, so lack of knowledge and education opportunities was a huge barrier that we heard.
Speaker: from local governments a lot say, we really want to do this work, but we don't know where to start. We don't have the knowledge and the expertise. So we do have a few examples in the report of training that can be undertaken. And this is a really great call to action to start with, actually. Call to action number 57 asks governments to implement training for their public servants.
Speaker: Local leaders can kill two birds with one stone by implementing this call to action. They'll get started on one really key action and they'll address one of the top barriers that we heard about. So you can find some of the specific trainings that we mentioned. There's so many out there that can suit different local government's needs. But you can find some of those examples in the report on our website at womentransformingcities .org.
Speaker: What role can the province play in helping municipalities to act on the calls to action? Yeah, the province has a really key role to play in supporting municipalities.
Speaker: As your listeners likely know, municipalities are creatures of the province. So there's definitely a role to play in supporting municipalities to access that education, to receive the funding that they need to do this work. Because as I mentioned, most of the barriers are related to investment. People want to do this work. They're ready to roll up their sleeves and get down to business, but they need the resources in order to make it happen.
Speaker: So the provincial government can really play a role there in making sure that where municipalities are eager to advance the calls to action, they have the resources they need to do that work. Part three of the report explores these 10 specific calls to action in more detail. Tell us about what you included here and how you hope it will be useful.
Speaker: Right, so we've identified 10 calls to action that pertain to local governments. There's more than 10 that municipalities can take action on, but we identified 10 that kind of represent a few different policy areas and are all explicitly directed at municipalities. They either say municipalities directly or they say they're directed to all levels of government.
Speaker: So our goal with this section is to provide tangible examples of what this work looks like on the ground. That was something that we heard from local leaders that they need. So we thought we'd get started on that with some of the examples of really good work that's happening around the province by compiling that in the report and saying, look, these communities are already implementing measures that relate to land back. We see that in call to action number 47.
Speaker: Comox and the City of Mission and Quinnell, they're all implementing initiatives that return land to the original stewards of that territory. In the research that you did, Claire, where did you personally see inspiration for what reconciliation by municipalities could start to look like going forward?
Speaker: Oh, I love that question. There's so many different actions happening around the province. And I think what was really striking is that whatever your community looks like, whatever size of your municipality, whatever capacity, there are actions that you can take. And there are actions happening around the province, whether they're big or small, they all make a difference. So it could be something as simple as searching your archives, you know, if there's a
Speaker: file folder of dusty archives, just take a look and see if there are any files that pertain to residential schools and pass those on to the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation. That's one of the calls to action. So it could be something as simple as that, but it could be something much more intricate and complex like implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, for example. And that's something that I think there was a lot of work done here in Vancouver that I found quite inspiring.
Speaker: That's right, yeah. Vancouver has put together a really strong task force on implementing under it. That includes 79 actions for the city to take and I'm eager to see that work continue in the years to come.
Speaker: Who can use this report? Is it just for city policy nerds or is it for other people? Yeah, I'm hoping that it'll be useful for lots of different people. There's recommendations in there for the province, of course, but there's also recommendations for the Union of B .C. municipalities and other local government adjacent organizations. And
Speaker: We hope that the examples and some of the advice that we offer will be really helpful for elected officials in municipalities and senior staff who are doing this work on the ground.
Speaker: But we also want it to be useful for residents to initiate action in their communities. So we urge your listeners to go to our website and take a look at the report, the recommendations, and share it with your local leaders to say, this is a priority to me. We need to take action on this in our community. How are we going to progress these calls to action? And use this as a resource to push for your leaders to prioritize this critical work.
Speaker: What are your hopes for how the report might spawn conversations in action? Yeah, already in doing this work, we've had some really great conversations with local leaders about how they're implementing this work, and I'm hoping for lots more to come. In my dream world, it would look like
Speaker: every municipality directing significant resources to implementing the calls to action. As I mentioned, the barriers that we encounter really have to do with investment. And I would love to see municipalities across the province, especially right now, a lot of municipalities are crafting their annual budget. So it's a really critical time. I would love to see local leaders say, we're going to put some funding behind this because we need to do this urgently.
Speaker: It's an impressive report and I appreciate Women Transforming Cities and you for doing this work. Thank you so much for learning. I hope your listeners will find the report helpful. Again, you can find it on our website, womentransformingcities .org.
Speaker: Thanks so much. I've been speaking with Clara Prager. The TRC calls to action in B .C., municipalities, progress barriers, and opportunities to accelerate implementation is the name of the report. It was created by Women Transforming Cities, and you can find it, as Clara said, on their website, womentransformingcities .org. The Red Eye podcast is produced at the studios of Vancouver Co -op Radio. You can support us by supporting Co -op Radio.
Speaker: go to coopradio .org and click on the donate button. Independent media relies on the support of people like you.
