Canada’s National Day for Truth & Reconciliation: September 30th 2024
Kiah McGeer
September 30th is Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day commemorates both the history and the ongoing impacts of Canada’s residential school system on Indigenous People in this country.
Our last blog post on September 30th was in 2022 – the world was in the process of rebounding from a global pandemic, Microsoft Vancouver had grown substantially in size as an employer in BC, and we’d just completed our first year of partnership with the First Nations Technology Council (FNTC) on Moving Beyond Inclusion (MBI) – a pilot project designed to decolonize corporate systems and transform the innovation, technology, and technology-enabled sectors through actions grounded in Reconciliation with an Indigenous lens.
What started as a one-year pilot evolved into a multi-year partnership journey with FNTC, within which Microsoft leadership – from Vancouver R&D leaders to HR and customer-facing LT from across Canada – came together under a shared commitment to actioning Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Call to Action #92 – Business and Reconciliation.
For all non-Indigenous individuals living in, and businesses operating in Canada, September 30th remains a critical moment for each of us to not only share our commitments, but also to keep ourselves and one another accountable to them.
And so today, we’re picking up where we left off with an update on our progress toward the goals we’d shared as well as our commitment to the further work that lies ahead.
Our reconciliation efforts are informed by our evolving partnership with FNTC as well as the recommended action areas that emerged from Moving Beyond Inclusion. We’d prioritized four goals to focus on through 2022-23.
The first was our commitment to incorporate a visual land acknowledgement into each Vancouver campus site. Through the Vancouver Mural Festival, we contracted Squamish and Haida artist, Cory Douglas, to design a permanent mural for Microsoft Vancouver’s flagship office location at 725 Granville Street. The mural, pictured in the image above, was installed behind the office’s main entrance in Fall 2022. We’re grateful to Cory for his collaboration and partnership in creating this piece.
Second, was our commitment to empowering recruiters and hiring managers with regionally relevant cultural awareness and safety training. In Spring 2024, a cohort of thirty managers from across Microsoft Vancouver’s product teams participated in a new course called Bringing Into Balance: The Role of the Individual in Truth and Reconciliation. Developed by FNTC and Indigenous Relations Strategic Advisor, Chastity Davis Alphonse, the course provided an opportunity for our leaders to increase their understanding of the relationship between settler colonialism, digital inequity, and the exclusion of Indigenous People(s) in technology and technology-enabled companies.
Third, we committed to delivering a financial campaign for employees to engage with during our company-wide giving month. In October 2023, we leveraged Microsoft’s company-wide Corporate Matching Programs across two campus-wide events to raise over $10K for FNTC’s Digital Skills Bursary Fund.
And fourth, was our commitment to creating a pilot Indigenous apprenticeship program with two core engineering teams. In Fall 2023, we welcomed two software engineering interns via FNTC’s Indigenous Internship Pilot Program (leveraging Innovate BC’s Innovator Skills Initiative Grant) to Microsoft Vancouver’s Office Media Group. The four-month placement included training on Microsoft systems and tools, peer and senior mentorship, as well as hands on experience contributing to product development.
While we achieved great progress in these four areas, we understand that Reconciliation is not a checklist. There’s still much left to achieve, including work to maintain and deepen what’s already been done. Just as important is saying yes when opportunities arise and driving additional action along the way.
In 2023, through our involvement with the DIGITAL / Coastal First Nations: Great Bear Initiative, an opportunity emerged to work directly with the Nuxalk Nation on Stl’mstaliwa: The Full Human Experience – a project that leveraged connectivity and technology to enable culture connection and language preservation within community. Over the six months we spent working closely with the Nuxalk Nation, we had the opportunity to learn first-hand about their community’s experience with digital transformation – concerns of security and data sovereignty were top of mind. We closed the project with a greater understanding of both the challenges – and the opportunities for meaningful impact – that technology and relationships with technology companies can offer.
Taken directly from the TRC’s Final Report Summary – ‘reconciliation is about establishing and maintaining a mutually respectful relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in this country. For that to happen, there must be an awareness of the past, acknowledgement of the harm that has been inflicted, atonement for the causes and action to change behaviour.’
From actioning MBI commitments internally to working with the Nuxalk Nation on an end-to-end project, our work over the past two years has only deepened our understanding of the nuanced process that is Reconciliation. Even more importantly, it’s shone a greater light on further ways Corporate Canada has yet to show up.
Yesterday (September 26th) we gathered at Microsoft Vancouver, joined virtually by colleagues from across the country, to hear from Victoria Grant – Indigenous philanthropist, changemaker and recipient of the Order of Canada – where she shared with us her perspective on corporate Canada’s role in Reconciliation.
Throughout 2024-2025, we’re committed to moving the needle in specific areas, including but not limited to: A) Continuing to leverage Microsoft’s annual company-wide Giving Month and corporate matching benefit to support Indigenous-led organizations serving Indigenous communities in BC. B) Driving alignment and action across Microsoft’s business functions in Canada as it relates to partnerships with Indigenous-led organizations, suppliers and communities. C) Continuing to provide and encourage employees of Microsoft in Canada to learn about Canada’s colonial history and engage personally with Reconciliation. D) Incorporating visual land acknowledgement at our remaining two offices in downtown Vancouver.
These actions aside, at Microsoft Vancouver our underlying commitment remains the same – to foster an environment that makes space for Indigenous worldviews, culture, and thought leadership in all areas of Microsoft’s work as we continue to expand in BC’s technology ecosystem.
We remain committed to the ever-evolving collaborative journey of Reconciliation, and to taking action every day of the year.
The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line is available 24-hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their Residential school experience.
