Ten years ago this month, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released its final reports and 94 Calls to Action, marking what many hoped would be a turning point in the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. As we observe Indigenous Peoples Month in June 2025, we are compelled to ask: where do we stand on the path toward reconciliation?

The statistics tell a sobering story. Of the 94 Calls to Action, only 15 have been completed — a completion rate of just 16 per cent. While this may seem discouraging, it reflects the complex, generational nature of the work ahead. The TRC commissioners knew that meaningful reconciliation would require not just policy changes, but fundamental shifts in how Canada understands itself and treats Indigenous peoples.

During Indigenous Peoples Month, we see the same old song and dance — politicians making statements, corporations slapping land acknowledgments on their emails, and social media flooded with orange hearts. But behind all this performative bullshit lies a reality that Indigenous communities live with every single day.

Our people are still living in conditions that wouldn’t be tolerated anywhere else in Canada. There’s a housing crisis on reserves, with families crammed into overcrowded homes that are falling apart. Clean drinking water — something most Canadians take for granted — is still a luxury for dozens of First Nations communities. The child welfare system keeps ripping Indigenous kids away from their families, doing the exact same damage residential schools were designed to do.

Violence against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people continues to happen at rates that should make it a national emergency. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls called it genocide back in 2019, but real change? It’s moving at a snail’s pace.

And here’s another slap in the face: resource extraction projects keep getting rammed through our territories without our free, prior, and informed consent. While Canada has implemented the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in legislation, the gap between legal frameworks and on-the-ground reality remains vast.

At the provincial and federal level, laws are being passed that bulldoze treaty rights and Indigenous sovereignty to fast-track mining and pipeline projects — all in the name of fighting U.S. president Donald Trump’s trade war.

These laws are an insult to the residential school survivors who travelled from remote territories 10 years ago to put their painful stories on the record in hopes that it would lead to change. 

What happened to the “national reckoning” with Canada’s colonial legacy?

The TRC was supposed to mark an end to an era of racist lawmaking and the beginning of a new chapter of nation-to nation collaboration. Instead, these laws are still grounded in the same colonial idea that the prosperity of non-Indigenous people outweighs Indigenous people’s idea of what prosperity looks like.

That is abundantly clear in the deeply offensive and racist language from Ontario Premier Doug Ford yesterday, who does not seem to respect or understand treaty rights.

But even in this mess, there are real reasons to have hope. Not the fake kind of hope politicians sell us, but actual evidence that things can change.

The 15 completed TRC Calls to Action? They might seem like nothing, but they’re not. The Indigenous Languages Commissioner and the Indigenous Languages Act from 2019 mean something real — our languages are finally being recognized as human rights. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation gives us a chance to keep educating people, even if it’s just another day off work for some folks.

The papal apology in 2022 was long overdue, but it happened, despite it lacking any meaningful action or accountability on the part of the Roman Catholic Church as an institution. 

We’re seeing Indigenous people in government, media, and cultural spaces like never before. Indigenous voices are getting heard in rooms where decisions about our lives get made.

That 2024 Indigenous Child Welfare Reform and the settlement for years of underfunding is  huge. It shows that when we keep fighting, when we don’t give up, we can force the system to change.

The TRC Commissioners knew this would take forever — literally generations. And yeah, sometimes that long view gets used as an excuse for doing nothing, but it’s also just the truth. You can’t undo centuries of colonialism in 10 years. Unfortunately because of the climate crisis humanity does not have generations, and fast-tracking resource-extraction is actually speeding that up.

What gives me hope is watching Indigenous youth who aren’t having any of this. They’re bringing back languages, fighting for land rights, and building movements that put Indigenous knowledge front and center. And here’s what’s really cool — there are more and more non-Indigenous Canadians, especially young people, who get it. They understand that reconciliation isn’t just “our problem” — it’s everyone’s problem.

These young people aren’t just posting land acknowledgments and calling it a day. They’re doing the hard work of supporting Indigenous-led actions and actually holding institutions accountable. They understand that reconciliation means being accomplices, not just allies who show up when it’s convenient.

As we mark the 10-year anniversary of the TRC, we can’t afford to give up or get comfortable. The slow pace of change isn’t just frustrating — for many Indigenous people, it’s a matter of life and death. 

Real reconciliation means being honest about how far we still have to go. While 15 completed Calls to Action is something, there are 79 still waiting for action. 

Reconciliation isn’t about Indigenous people “getting over” the past — it’s about Canada finally confronting its colonial present.

For non-Indigenous folks walking with us: reconciliation means more than feel-good gestures. It means supporting Indigenous sovereignty, fighting for land back, and working to change the economic and political systems that keep screwing us over. 

For governments and elected officials in power: it means actually implementing those remaining Calls to Action like people’s lives depend on it (because they do), properly funding Indigenous communities, and making sure free, prior, and informed consent isn’t just words on paper. 

To the Indigenous youth and your non-Indigenous friends reading this: you’re our hope. You grew up knowing this country’s real history, not the sanitized version that older generations got fed. You’ve got tools, platforms, and connections that previous generations fighting for justice could only dream of.

This reconciliation work is yours now, but you don’t have to accept the turtle-slow pace we’ve been dealing with. You can demand better, faster, more real action. You can build the relationships and alliances we need to create the nation-to-nation relationship that the TRC actually envisioned — where Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples live together with real respect, partnership, and shared prosperity.

The truth is, 10 years after the TRC dropped its final report, reconciliation is still more talk than walk. But buried deep in all that talk is the potential for real, transformative change. The question isn’t whether reconciliation can happen — it’s whether we’ve got the guts to make it happen.

Moving forward takes courage from all of us. The courage to face ugly truths, to challenge unjust systems, and to walk together toward a future that actually honours everyone who calls this land home. That future is still out there, but only if we choose it together.

And we better choose it soon.