For David A. Robertson, stories are at the heart of reconciliation

CBC

30-05-2025

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Through his books and public speaking, David A. Robertson has dedicated his career to sharing stories about Indigenous people.
Robertson began publishing books in 2010 and has since released 33 titles, including picture books, graphic novels, fiction and memoir.
With each of his stories, the Winnipeg author delves into hard truths, always with a gentle touch and a profound sense of hope.
His recent book, 52 Ways to Reconcile, is a guide for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who want to take action when it comes to reconciliation — and shows how we can work together on the long road ahead.
"I really do think it's a community movement and it's not good enough for one [group] to understand the other," he said on Bookends with Mattea Roach.
"It's for us to do the work to talk with each other. I can't stress that enough."
A two-time Governor General's Literary Award winner and a member of the Norway House Cree Nation, Robertson shared his approach to building community between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people — and why the term "reconciliation" might not be the right word for it.
Mattea Roach: I think reconciliation entered the vocabulary for a lot of people when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established back in 2008. But that wasn't the first time the word reconciliation was used to talk about Indigenous peoples and their relationship with Canada. What does the word reconciliation mean to you?
David A. Robertson: I've been lucky enough to go to schools across Canada to speak to kids, teachers and adults all over the place. As I've done this work, I've come to a better understanding of what we're trying to do. I do think that reconciliation, in the broad sense that people think about it, is a misnomer because we're not trying to return to anything. We're not trying to fix something that was not broken before. The relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canada has always been broken. So it's not exactly the right word, I don't think.
I used it, but I just want people to think critically about everything — so we think critically about this word. What we're trying to do, it's building relationships, it's building community. It's doing that through mutual understanding and respect.
What we're trying to do, it's building relationships, it's building community. It's doing that through mutual understanding and respect. - David A. Robertson
So we're not trying to build or return to anything. We're trying to build something for the first time. If we keep that in mind, I don't care what you call it, as long as we're doing things properly and with the right kind of vision. I think that conversation hopefully focuses that vision onto the right kind of goals we need to have.
You've said that you see reconciliation as a verb. Can you talk more about that concept?
It is an action, it is intentionality. We need to continue to think about the actions that we can take in our own capacities and have a long-term view and know that we need to continue to act into the future.
My dad used to say that — I'll probably mention my dad every single answer I give — if he did things the right way, he won't see the results of the actions that he's taken in his lifetime.
I was given this amazing reminder of that when, after he died, I was giving a personal development session to Indigenous teachers at the Canadian Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg. My dad worked in Indigenous education and after the session, the teachers came up to me and told me that a lot of them were there because of my dad. I saw what he meant there and I wish he was there to see that, but he knew he didn't have to be, he wouldn't be.
We have a long road to go and a lot of actions need to be taken and will need to be taken for the foreseeable future. - David A. Robertson
It's a continual action and keeping in mind as well that we're still trying not only to heal from what's happened, but we'll be trying to heal from what is happening now for a long time. We still have colonial systems in this country that are doing damage.
That means that the clock hasn't started ticking yet to when we need to start healing as a whole. The foster care system, the education system, justice, all of these systems are still in place that are doing harm. So we have a long road to go and a lot of actions need to be taken and will need to be taken for the foreseeable future.
If we take them with intentionality and with the knowledge that we all do have a role and we all can take an action and we should take an action, that's when we change this word into a verb. And that verb is a motivational factor for us to continue to do the work together as a community.
You say that stories are at the heart of reconciliation. Why is that for you?
Reconciliation is inexorably linked with truth. You can't get healing, whatever way you want to talk about it, without truth. And the truth lies in the stories that we tell.
My dad and I used to talk about reconciliation as a conversation. It's not a one way conversation. It's like what we're doing now, sitting across the table and talking to each other and listening, really listening to each other and working to understand each other and come to respect through understanding. That's what it is.
Then, through that, we see two things. One of them is that we're all people. We share the human condition. And the other thing is that the things that set us apart, the differences, make us stronger as a community.
There's a teaching of non-interference in the Cree culture and that is that you don't interfere with how someone else lives. You try to model a good life through how you live. I think that's a really good way to go about anything.