Reconciliation Dialogue Workshops

Thank you for your interest in Reconciliation Canada. Currently, we are fully booked for the summer and fall dialogue workshops and public speaking engagements. Please check back later.

Reconciliation Dialogue Workshops create a safe place to engage all peoples in Canada in dialogue that increases understanding of our shared history, and explores the meaning of reconciliation and our respective role to play.

Workshops are modeled on an Indigenous circle process that creates a supportive and safe environment for meaningful dialogue and relationship building to occur. Together participants explore pathways to reconciliation and develop community- based and community-driven reconciliation action plans.

Each workshop offers a truly powerful and transformative experience, and creates a solid foundation for building meaningful relationships between Indigenous peoples and all Canadians.

Goals of the Reconciliation Dialogue Workshops

• Increased understanding of our shared history, including the legacy and inter-generational impacts of the Indian Residential School system
• New perspectives on the current realities for Indigenous peoples in Canada
• An understanding of the holistic nature of reconciliation and the role that reconciliation plays in the well being of all peoples
• A transformative experience allowing time and space for participants to reflect on their own individual experience of and role in reconciliation
• An opportunity to build resilient, mutually beneficial relationships within and among diverse communities
• Develop individual and community-based and community-driven reconciliation action plans

Structure of the Reconciliation Dialogue Workshops

Each workshop creates a safe space for participants to share personal experiences of reconciliation, discuss visions for a better future, and to develop individual and collective reconciliation action plans. The workshop begins in a large circle with introductions of the participants, the work of Reconciliation Canada and the shared Canadian history of the Indian Residential School system and current reality of inter-generational impacts. Afterwards, the attendees form smaller circles to discuss the meaning of reconciliation, share personal experiences and insights, and explore the role they can play in it based on their particular set of strengths, skills and abilities.

Outcomes

The Reconciliation Dialogue Workshops are designed to provide opportunities for community leaders to build meaningful partnerships, create synergies and identify collaboration opportunities that work towards building vibrant and sustainable communities for our shared future – a New Way Forward for Indigenous peoples and all Canadians.

Participants

Dependent on the scope of the workshop, participants may include community leaders from a diverse range of cultural and professional backgrounds. The Reconciliation Dialogue Workshops are flexible to target specific demographic, community and professional groups and can be tailored to include the interests and goals of the group.

“By hearing personal stories and sharing my own, relationships were nurtured, a humanness and humanity brought back into our circles and into our lives. This makes us one, strengthens us, and sustains us.” – Workshop participant

“The more I hear the more I learn. The more I learn about others, and their work, it empowers me to do more.” – Workshop participant

Reconciliation Dialogue Workshop: Professional Learning Experience

Reconciliation Dialogue Workshop: Professional Learning Experience is a half-day workshop that will provide business and community leaders with the opportunity to engage in dialogue and reflect on the core values of reconciliation, allowing for a new generation of leaders who consciously and thoughtfully choose to live and work in reconciliation. Given the shared desire for a new way forward in Canada, reconciliation is critical in building an inclusive and just society.

Learn more here.

Impact Story: Arlene Strom

“Working at Suncor and with Aboriginal communities, I knew about the stories but being able to hear the personal experiences of people who were willing to share and be vulnerable really helps you to see and understand what it actually means on a multigenerational level.” – Arlene Strom, Suncor Energy Inc.

Learn more about Arlene’s experience as a participant of a Reconciliation Dialogue Workshop here.