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Part 3

Spend 1 hour in silence in nature and reflect on the following questions.

1) Describe where and when you spent your time in nature.

2) What did you experience in your time in nature? What did you see, hear, smell, feel? What effect did this time in nature have on you

Spending time in nature is a way to reflect on my previous day, week, month or my actions. A nice place in nature provides peace and quiet which helps me reduce the levels of stress and anxiety by reflecting on my life. It was around 7 o’clock in the evening when the sun was going down and the sky looked beautiful. I spend about an hour in St. Vital park before I got too cold to stay out and it helped me to enhance my self-awareness. I could feel the river that was right in front of me and breathe fresh air because I was surrounded by trees. Also, the park was getting quitter because people were starting to leave as it was getting late and cold. It’s a way of relaxing which is why I think it’s essential for people to take time to reflect on their lives, to see how they can improve it to have a better quality of life.

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Part 2

1. How did the information presented in the talks above affect how you think about nature?

Nature is more than what we think of it. Nature is a living organism; a tree could represent a human. Just like humans work together and help each other, so do some trees, they are interdependent. Nature is a provider of vital ecological services. Trees provide the oxygen that we breathe, but we don’t provide anything to nature; Human beings depend on nature to survive, and yet most of us don’t think about it. During our daily routine. Most of us don’t spend enough time in nature. Going to school, work and spending time with the people around us, there is not much time left to spend in nature. Therefore, we are getting isolated from nature more and more every day. After watching this video, I realized that I have been spending less and less time over the years in nature. As I was growing up and I was getting more responsibilities, I was trading the time I would spend outside for work. This video helped me realized that I want to spend more time in nature and re-do the activities I used to in nature such as mountain biking.

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Retrieved from https://haveyoursay.cbcity.nsw.gov.au/draft-2019-2021-innovate-reconciliation-action-plan-rap

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Part 1. Truth and Reconciliation and Sustainability

During the 19th century, Europeans were at conflict with First Nations people. The main reason for this was that Europeans felt dissatisfaction with the treaties that were made between them and Aboriginal people during their arrival to the new continent. Europeans did not sustain the land that was given to them by Aboriginal people and the resources that came from it. European’s greed ruined the relationships between the two groups which lead to conflict that eventually resulted in the formation of residential schools. Europeans had thought that the solution would be to eradicate Aboriginal people which would cause the treaties to cease to exist.

A critical impact on Aboriginal people was caused by the formation and use of residential schools. Within those residential schools, the goal was to prevent kids from developing an Indigenous culture by banning their native language, separating siblings, and giving kids a new identity, making them be privileged enough to belong in a “white” society. But these cruel goals did not end there. Furthermore, Canada committed cultural genocide on Indigenous people by banning their culture such as spiritual practices that were very common among different groups. Europeans took away Indigenous people’s sacred objects that were used for their spiritual practices and most importantly removed leaders of their groups leaving the groups leaderless and with no means of performing their spiritual practices. Deputy Minister of Indian Affairs Duncan Campbell Scott was involved in the making of these goals, to a point where he said “our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic”.(Truth and Reconciliation, 2015) This goal was so predominant at the time that churches joined forces with the government to help eradicate the Indigenous culture. People going to such great lengths to achieve their destructive goals makes you wonder about the great things that could be achievable with the joined forces of humanity. 

What Truth and Reconciliation in Canada and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals have in common is the desire to achieve their goals no matter what it takes.

Reconciliation is about coming to terms with the past and moving forward. in order to achieve this, mutual agreements need to be placed between parties in question. Aboriginal people and Canadians make agreements and try to find reconciliation for the sake of the future of their kids and the nation as a whole. People need to come to terms with each other in order to have a chance at a better future. For decades there has been a healing process between Aboriginal people and Americans that is still going on to this day. If such healing process is possible by coming to terms with each other after such horrible acts, then it is possible for the world to come together to prevent the destruction of our planet. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals members are trying to raise awareness among people so they can work together to achieve the 17 main goals aimed at preserving the Earth and well-being of its people. These include eliminating poverty and hunger, making clean water accessible for everyone, which will lead to better well being of humans. Aboriginal people and people who live in poverty have been through so many difficulties throughout their lives. If Canadians can come to terms with Indigenous to create a society where they coexist and live in peace and respect each other, then so can the rest of the world.