I have listened to many different Indigenous speakers through the years at professional days and other events.  Without exception, every one has clearly stated that "no one alive today created residential schools", no one here is responsible for creating racist systems which are causing Indigenous youth to commit suicide at very high rates, or to have much lower rates of graduation.  As Higginbottom(2023) re-iterates "I do not blame current teachers, leaders, or districts for our current inequities. We all inherited this system. (p.86-87)

    However, the reality is, that we are the current teachers/leaders/adults who have inherited this system, and therefore we have a responsibility to do what we can to repair the harms and to try to make things right.  If we don't, we simply pass this work on to our children and grandchildren.  The longer we wait, the more harm accumulates and the more difficult it gets to repair the damage.  Like with a leak in a pipe, if we don't pay attention and do what we can to fix it, we might end up flooding our whole house and having to rebuild the whole thing.   

    Ultimately, we need to do the hard work of decolonization of our education systems because it will benefit all of us.  As Chrona points out, anti-Indigenous racism is not "all in the past" (2022, p.33) We do this work for our descendants, because we know in our hearts that there is a better way.   Indigenous peoples are simply asking for fair treatment, for equitable access to resources, for self determination, the ability to pass on their language and culture, and for access to and compensation for land that was stolen under Canadian law.