Reconciliation Practice

Reconciliation Practice

Journey together as we transform reconciliation from an overwhelming concept into meaningful practice through guided sessions that build essential skills and create real momentum toward healing.

Where We Begin

Despite genuine commitment to reconciliation, many of us struggle with how to move forward effectively. This isn’t a failure of intention—it reflects a deeper challenge.

Colonial systems didn’t just create historical injustices. They fundamentally altered how we relate to each other, to knowledge, and to the land.

Over generations, essential human capacities were systematically diminished—capacities like seeing ourselves as belonging to place, recognizing kinship across difference, and engaging with knowledge as relationship rather than resource.

Without these foundational skills, even those most committed to reconciliation may inadvertently perpetuate colonial patterns rather than create healing.

Our Approach

ECVO and Naheyawin came together to develop this series recognizing that reconciliation requires practice, not just information.

Like learning music or a language, reconciliation skills develop through dedicated practice in a supportive environment. Our sessions provide this practice space, while micro-actions between gatherings help integrate new capacities into everyday life.

This approach transforms reconciliation from an abstract concept into living practice—building momentum through manageable steps rather than overwhelming obligations.

What to Expect

Each of the five 90-minute gatherings focuses on active practice rather than presentation. Before each session, participants engage with short educational materials, allowing our time together to center on application and skill-building.

Date of gatherings:

Monday, June 9, 2025, 8:30 am – 10:00 am

Monday, July 8, 2025, 8:30 am – 10:00 am

Monday, September 9, 2025, 8:30 am – 10:00 am

Tuesday, October 14, 2025, 8:30 am – 10:00 am

Wednesday, November 12, 2025, 8:30 am – 10:00 am

Our gatherings will include:

• Opening Circle: Indigenous teachings ground our work and provide essential context.
• Practice Time: The heart of each gathering is dedicated to hands-on skill development. Instead of simply discussing concepts or best practices, we experience them through guided exercises. This collaborative practice creates a supportive environment to develop new capacities together.
• Micro-Action Workshopping: Together, we develop specific, meaningful actions to implement before our next gathering, including organizational actions like implementing relational protocols in meetings or personal practices like strengthening relationship with place.
• Collective Commitment: Sessions close with shared commitments that create accountability and support.

Between gatherings, these micro-actions become our practice ground, creating experiences and insights to share when we reconvene.

What You’ll Gain

For Individuals that join us:

• Build confidence through regular, guided practice
• Develop capacities that make reconciliation work accessible and sustainable
• Join a supportive community of practice

For the organizations you join us on behalf of:

• Approaches for broadening participation towards reconciliation aims through consistent, meaningful actions
• Pathways for developing internal capacities across teams that enhance all reconciliation efforts
• Alternative strategies for addressing workplace challenges that come from Indigenous ways of knowing and being

This approach doesn’t replace other reconciliation work—it enhances it by developing the relational foundation that ensures all initiatives are approached in truly healing ways.

Join Us

Whether you’re just beginning your reconciliation journey or looking to deepen existing efforts, this program offers a unique approach focused on building capacity through practice.

Participants can attend individual sessions or the full series, with each gathering providing valuable practice while connecting to our shared learning.

Together, we’ll transform reconciliation from an overwhelming obligation to a generative practice—one meaningful step at a time.

Facilitator

Jacquelyn Cardinal is sakāwithiniwak (Woodland Cree) who carries teachings gifted to her through family and community since childhood. Following the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report in 2015, she answered the call to collective healing by co-founding Naheyawin with her brother Hunter. Their work honours the original spirit and intent of Treaty by creating spaces where people develop the relational capacities essential for genuine reconciliation. Jacquelyn guides this practice-based approach to healing, which has been recognized with an Esquao Award for Achievement in Business and a SHEInnovates Award from the UN Women’s Global Innovation Coalition for Change.