Indigenous journalist calls for a revolution to address the failure of reconciliation
'We need to dig deep and work genuinely towards the goal of what reconciliation is,' says Brandi Morin
For 14 years, Brandi Morin has covered stories that have taken her across Canada, the U.S. and around the world — most recently in Ecuador.
Morin, who is Cree, Iroquois and French, has focused her career on truth-telling and amplifying Indigenous voices and their personal experiences.
For her that means being on the "frontlines covering the continued consequences and fallout of colonialism."
In January of 2024 she found herself on the other side of the story while covering a police raid in an Indigenous homeless encampment in Edmonton. She was arrested and charged with obstruction.
"The irony wasn't lost on me. Here I was being arrested on my own ancestral lands for doing my job," Morin said in her lecture called Indigenous Truth in the Face of Power: a Journalist's Call to Action, as part of the Indigenous Speaker Series presented by Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, B.C and IDEAS. She delivered her talk in the fall of 2024.
"I remember the cold bite of the handcuffs and hearing the slamming of the cell door, the concrete floor, the open bathroom offering no privacy. As I sat there for hours, I thought about all of our people who had been in similar situations, their stories untold."
Morin argues that "reconciliation in Canada right now is on life support" and adds there's "a violent backlash against truth" — a reality she never thought would be possible in modern Canada.
"I know this truth intimately, both as a journalist and as a survivor of some of the systems that we're fighting to change," said Morin.
The acclaimed journalist joined host Nahlah Ayed to talk about truth-telling and succeeding in reconciliation.
Here is an excerpt from their conversation.
In your presentation, you challenge Canadians and you say that they should, 'move beyond superficial gestures of reconciliation and confront the ongoing impacts of colonialism.' Can you talk about what you mean by superficial gestures of reconciliation?
We have these rituals that have become normal in this country after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Final report was released. We have land acknowledgements and we have celebrations and gatherings, but we are falling short.
There is still so much that needs to be repaired on both sides. It was kind of like when we began this journey as a country, all of this turmoil was revealed and exposed — and it's festering. And we're at that boiling point where we need to address it. We need to dig deep and work genuinely towards the goal of what reconciliation is.
So, what are some examples of more meaningful reconciliation in your mind?
It is about not only acknowledging, but giving Indigenous peoples the same platforms, the same recognition of rights and sovereignty in this country. Just like when this country was established in the various agreements and treaties, the covenants that were signed to bring this country into being, to work hand in hand, to create something great together, to share the resources, to share the wealth and to walk side-by-side.
That has never been realized and I think that that is key to moving forward, giving Indigenous people that control, that respect, to be able to self-determine our lives.
Every crisis facing Indigenous people today is connected to colonial agendas and our failure of a genuine reconciliation.- Brandi Morin in her VIU lecture
I know you're not a policymaker, but when you imagine that seeding of control and walking side by side, what do you imagine as a first step from this point, let's say by the federal government? How could they do a better job of expediting the kind of world that you're describing?
I think that there could be more decision-making power given from the federal government to Indigenous communities and organizations. It's still a very paternalistic relationship. The government determines how much each community is going to receive.
I'm going to always go back to the treaties to ensure that these treaties signed between Indigenous people in Canada are respected. You know, there are so many different areas, right?
We could delve into the justice system that is completely in chaos, where the majority of the people imprisoned in this country are Indigenous. And it's talking about completely overhauling a lot of these systems because they are systemically geared towards favouring non-Indigenous society.
We've spoken about what the government can do. What about ordinary Canadians in terms of reconciliation? What's missing?
It comes in waves. It comes on specific days of awareness like Indigenous Peoples Day or the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. And people are engaged and they are inspired. But I think that that enthusiasm kind of fades away in between. People need to genuinely be interested and do the work that it takes to get to know each other, to get to know your neighbours, to get to know the truth of everything that has ever happened on the lands that you call home.
We need a revolution of the Canadian spirit.- Brandi Morin in her VIU lecture
I really think individually it comes down to relationships with each other — genuine relationships. And elders have told me, even one of the commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Willie Littlechild, he always said, 'you know, just pick one or two of the class-action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Pick one or two of those that speak to you and start there. Little by little, these are things but they have to be taken seriously and genuinely.
This is not a fad. This is where we live. This is about creating a Canada that is better for all and can change the outcomes of future generations on both sides.
The political climate in the United States has cast a shadow, both economic and political uncertainty over Canada. I guess the bottom line is, do you worry that First Nations communities might get lost in this conversation?
No, because I know that our people, they stand up in these situations and they mobilize and they are, well, unfortunately really good at protesting. They are really good at defending their territories and standing up for their rights. So I think that if a situation like that played out, that there would be calls to action across this country. We would see a wave of support not only just from Indigenous peoples, but from a lot of the allies that our people have connected with over these recent years.
I wanna be crystal clear. You are either actively supporting reconciliation or you are compliant in ongoing colonial violence. There's no neutral ground.- Brandi Morin in her VIU lecture
Back to the work that you do, you have an incredible body of work... but as you say, some of your reporting is called into question. The reality of what you catch, what you've seen with your own eyes on the ground is denied even by figures of authority. What impact do you think that kind of treatment of your work has on your journalism?
I encounter this all the time. Even recently on these stories that I've been working on out of Ecuador. The Canadian ambassador to Ecuador refused to speak with me on the record and wanted only to speak off the record. The Minister for International Trade here agreed to an interview and then pulled back days later. I have to put these disclaimers in this work and say, 'I worked to tell this story as balanced as possible, but I can't control who is refusing to participate.
For so long the stories of our people have been one-sided. They have been told from the perspective of colonial society, and I am here to tell these stories with a native voice, with a native perspective — including the facts and giving opportunity for fair coverage, So I really have to stay grounded in that.
So that helps inform all Canadians about what is going on, as you say, on the Indigenous front lines. What do you think it does for the project of reconciliation ultimately?
I mean, I hope that it serves as a living document of this history that we are going through. I hope that it would make a difference in individual lives, maybe in the different policy level environments.
I just want stories to speak for themselves and get to the truth, and get to the heart.
Download the IDEAS podcast to listen to this episode.
*Q&A edited for clarity and length. This episode was produced by Anne Penman.
