Description
Derek Aronhia:nens Montour joined the armed services after high school—first the Canadian Royal Montreal Regiment and later the United States Marine Corps. After leaving the services, he moved back to Kahnawà:ke to work with the Kahnawà:ke Shakotiia’takehnhas Community Services, and today he is the organization’s executive director. He also serves on the board of directors for the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission and has assisted at the national level on the Child and Family Services Reform National Advisory Committee. He also served on the Minister of National Defence’s Advisory Panel on Systemic Racism and Discrimination, which submitted their final report in December 2021. Derek grew up in Kahnawà:ke and has two children and a grandchild.
Elin Sandberg Miller hosted the podcast Everyday Reconciliation in 2021–2022, which she created and co-produced with the think tank Canada 2020. Her work has been published in various newspapers and magazines, including the Montreal Gazette. She spent most of her working life in the Swedish Foreign Service and more recently at Global Affairs Canada, working on issues of international law, human rights, gender equality, conflict resolution and peacebuilding. She immigrated to Canada in 2008, currently lives in Ottawa, has three children and a grandchild, and is a dual Swedish-Canadian citizen.
Together, two friends with vastly different backgrounds share their vision for a reconciled country—one in which small, daily actions can make a monumental difference
Derek Aronhie:nens Montour is an Indigenous man who grew up on the Kahnawà:ke Kanien’kehá:ka Territory. Elin Sandberg Miller is a non-Indigenous woman and immigrant to Canada. Here, they share their alternating experiences and perspectives with nuance and vulnerability, providing an accessible and candid discussion that invites readers to consider the power of reconciliation in their everyday lives. The result is a clear and insightful guide for non-Indigenous Canadians who want to contribute to the national reconciliation process but don’t know where to start.
Through 13 wide-ranging essays, Montour and Miller imagine what reconciliation would look like on a practical level, driven by people, not governments. Together, they tackle an urgent and compelling range of subjects, including asking tough questions about home, land, culture, language and more. Can non-Indigenous people wear beaded earrings? Should they give their land back? What about land acknowledgements? Is it okay to attend a powwow? The resulting answers are thoughtful, encouraging and considered, providing non-Indigenous people with the practical tools to enact essential and meaningful change. This an empowering call to action—and one that equips all of us to become a part of our own everyday reconciliation.