Social Media and its Effects on Truth and Reconciliation within Canada

For this week’s blog post on community engagement I would like to focus on how PLN’s and social media can contribute to reconciliation in Canada. For years the atrocities that were committed against Indigenous peoples in Canada went unknown by non-Indigenous folks. When considering the question, “how does social media engage communications?” I started to think about how social media gives a voice to those who are otherwise silenced. Since the Truth and Reconciliation Report was published in 2015 there has been more awareness of Indigenous experiences within Canada, however, social media has expanded the audience of folks who are learning more about the real history of their country. 

 A misconception within Canada is that all Indigenous communities and peoples all fall under the same umbrella, which could not be further from the truth. As I discussed in my week 5 blog post, everyone is at a different intersection in life so one Indigenous person’s experience can be completely different from the next, meaning there is so much to learn from every individual. This is why social media can really benefit us as learners because we are not being subjected to a single voice to represent marginalized groups, as we often are within news media or government organizations.

Not only does it allow non-Indigenous folks to learn more about Indigenous experiences within Canada, but it also can create a community for Indigenous peoples who have been displaced due to colonialism. This is exemplified in Jessica Clark and Patricia Aufderheide’s book, A New Vision for Public Media Open, Dynamic, and Participatory when they say “People come in as participants and leave recognizing themselves as members of a public—a group of people commonly affected by an issue, whatever their differences about how to resolve it” (2011). 

Another topic I wanted to discuss was how the burden of teaching non-Indigenous folks about the grim history and continued colonial state of Canada should not fall solely on Indigenous peoples. It is up to non-Indigenous Canadians to learn from other more knowledgeable non-Indigenous peoples as well as some self-directed learning. There are already so many resources out there on social media and on the internet to conduct valuable learning! When it comes to the PLN and being able to offer insight to others, this is where I feel I have been able to teach many of my classmates and peers. During my undergrad I took a minor in Indigenous Studies as I felt it was my duty to learn more about the history and current events of the land I live on and its First Peoples. Being able to teach others and broaden perspectives on Indigenous issues within Canada is very important to me, because as I said before, it should not be the jobs of Indigenous folks to educate us non-indigenous Canadians. More specifically, within the realm of education, decolonizing is a common and daunting word being thrown around. I feel comfortable with this topic as I have a background in this knowledge and so I really enjoy offering decolonized lesson plans or my ideas for creating a decolonized classroom. Overall, social media can be a great tool for Canadians to educate themselves on topics like colonialism and hear perspectives of Indigenous experiences.