Representation and Voices in Reconciliation

By Ashley Saulog, 1st year MDP student

As we get ready for a new school year, I am reflecting on 12 week international placement in Adelaide, Australia with Reconciliation South Australia. Through my placement I have been honoured to travel to different communities all over South Australia to witness the celebrations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, culture, and the truth-telling of the history of colonialism and the intergenerational impacts of Australia’s First People.

A Welcome to Country ceremony for students

An important document and important historical milestone in Indigenous Australians was the Uluru Statement from The Heart. In 2017, a gathering of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders representatives took place at the Uluru to discuss the constitutional reform needed to bring self-determination back into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The 3 main elements include 1) Constitutional Change that involves empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices in the Australian Constitution; 2) Makarrata Commission meaning the “coming together after a struggle” to guide decision-making in government; and 3)The Makarrata Commission would include truth-telling about Australia’s colonial history.

ActNow Theatre group an me

Cross-culturally, the Uluru Statement from the Heart is applicable to social changes towards a reconciliation journey in Australia and Canada. Structural and individual racism is still a challenge towards building respectful relationships between indigenous peoples. Reconciliation SA is conscious that working with a decolonial perspective against structural and individual racism towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and newcomers from Asia and the Middle East. I feel that The Generation of Change program is a program is an excellent way of involving an arts-based approach to creating conversations with youth in an encouraging and safe space to address lived experiences in racism and educating youth. I think that the Generations of Change of Change program would see great success if it was implemented in Winnipeg. In my work with youth, arts-based approaches I find in the public sector should be utilized to encourage truth-telling through storytelling.

To close, I want to thank Reconciliation South Australia for hosting me for three months. Through this experience in Australia, I never expected to travel to amazingly beautiful landscapes and meet the warmest locals. I truly am so grateful for the opportunity of personal growth in values and in development skills. Reconciliation South Australia truly allowed me to apply the theories and learnings from the MDP program into practice when engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Maraming salamat. Thank you.

Reconciliation South Australia staff

Recognition, Response, Reconcilation

By Ashley Saulog, 1st year MDP student

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders' flags

Ninna Marni

Magandang araw

Hello

I would like to acknowledge that the land I am on today is the traditional lands of the Kaurna people and that I respect their spiritual relationship with their Country. I also acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.

I am grateful and honoured to be able to be a visitor and student amongst amazing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, community members, educators, and government officials here in Adelaide, South Australia.

For 12 weeks, Reconciliation South Australia (SA) has graciously taken me under their wing to learn and participate in the reconciliation activities and efforts among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and the broader Australian society. Reconciliation South Australia is a non-profit organization with the vision of increasing understanding of the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to live in a just and equitable society. I was fortunate enough to arrive in South Australia during Reconciliation SA’s busiest time of the year consisting of Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC Week, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Day.

The Reconciliation SA team is led by Executive Director Shona Reid, who has guided me into the reconciliation space at the state level. She has welcomed me into conversations surrounding pushing reconciliation across different systems to create social change through the five critical dimensions that together represent a holistic and comprehensive picture of reconciliation in Australia. Reconciliation SA works within the five dimensions identified to measure reconciliation in Australia: race relations, equality and equity, institutional integrity, unity, and historical acceptance.  

Generations of Change program in Mount Gambier, South Australia

A highlight of my placement was my involvement with the Generations of Change program that is delivered in partnership of Reconciliation SA and ActNow Theatre Company. Students and teachers experience the ‘Responding to Racism’ interactive theatre performance delivered by ActNow Theatre which is crucial to encouraging the students to interject and inspire responses about safe responses to racist microaggression.  In the first segment of the program called Learn, students are paired with actors or Reconciliation SA staff and are asked to share personal or second-hand stories of encountering racism. Hearing the youth voice their opinions and lived experiences of racism made me reflect and share my own experiences of growing up in Canada as a first generation, Filipino Canadian. We discussed the difficulties of identity, the contradictions of home life and school life, and the importance of cultural representation at schools. The safe environment and open conversations allowed the students and me to bond over how similar our stories are.

I am looking forward to sharing more of my relationships and adventures with Reconciliation SA over the next few weeks!