How it works

Step 1: Sign up on the Pledge to Read page.

Step 4: Share your progress by logging in and marking the sections you’ve read. Take as long as you need to read it. It’s not a race. It’s a commitment.

By taking the pledge, you are stating that:

Basic principles underlying this challenge

You care genuinely about the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada.

You believe that improving this relationship requires meaningful, respectful, mutual dialogue, and that you cannot contribute to this dialogue unless you have first listened to the truths expressed by First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people.

You prefer to read the TRC Report yourself, rather than letting others interpret it for you, especially since they may not have actually read it themselves.

Why 1000 by June 21st?

The goal was to get 1000 pledges by June 21st. This is Aboriginal Day in Canada. Need I say more? Probably not, but I will. This is about listening deeply, which means that you are listening with the attitude that you are open to being changed by what you hear. The list of 1000 pledges unveiled on June 21st not only illustrates a commitment to the three statements described above, but it also demonstrates to the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people of Canada that there are people listening. For all the cruel and ignorant comments ever made, for all those who do not care, for all those who don’t see how it affects them, these pledges try to offer something more hopeful.

You might think: a thousand? That’s a mere droplet of our population. Yes, but it’s 1000 people who are truly committed to reading (or listening to) the TRC Report. It’s 1000 people who have either sent out a challenge to another person, or accepted a challenge from somebody. Hopefully, some of these people are our local politicians, our journalists, our teachers. So, yes, it’s only 1000 people. But it’s a start. Once we achieve this first goal, we can build on it.

Where to Get the TRC Report

The Main Text Plus a Few Options

ONLINE TEXT VERSION:Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report PDF 

What We Have Learned: Principles of Truth and Reconciliation Audio Files
This audio version, comprised of a series of MP3 files, can be downloaded and listened on your smartphone during your commute to work. The document read is 126 pages long (6.5 hours) and is essentially the History section found in the Summary. It is not the full Summary (note that on the TRC website, these audio files are mislabelled as being the Summary).
 
#ReadTheTRCReport
This is a fantastic video project started by Erica Violet Lee, a Nēhiyaw woman in Saskatoon, Zoe Todd, a Métis writer in Edmonton, and Joseph Paul Murdoch-Flowers, an Inuk man in Iqaluit. You can watch others read sections of the Summary.

**As an extension of the Youtube Videos online, Daniel Nikpayuk has formatted and standardized them to be a normal file size, primarily for “accessibility” reasons as not all Canadians have quality internet access, nor should we assume everyone can access the same report in the same way. Auxiliary project is located here.
 
HARD COPIES: There are hard copies available for purchase through Lorimer Publishers, for example. You could also order it through your local independent bookstore. Many local libraries also carry a copy if you prefer to not read online.