Truth and Reconciliation 

• Truth means learning about and acknowledging the historical and ongoing harms caused to Indigenous peoples, including colonial policies, systemic abuses, and injustices that continue to affect communities today. 
• Reconciliation includes calls to action for non-Indigenous people to honour the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples, including rights to identity, language, culture, land, and self-determination, and to work in ways that support healing and reclamation. 

Commitments to truth and reconciliation in school mental health intentionally amplify Indigenous knowledge by partnering with communities to create and inform affirming supports and service pathways that reflect Indigenous identities and experiences. 

Equity 

Equity commitments are vital in addressing the unfair distribution of access and opportunities resulting in disparities that are based on identity-markers like race, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, culture, immigration status, first language, ability, and more. Equity-informed school mental health ensures that every student can access supports and resources that reflect their needs, identities, and lived experiences. This commitment drives us to identify and remove systemic barriers so that all students can thrive. 

Equity and Reconciliation: Separate but alongside 

While both reconciliation and equity aim to address injustice, they are not the same and must be distinctly considered, supported and planned for with the following in mind: 

• Indigenous peoples have, and continue to face colonization, dispossession of land, loss of language and culture, and ongoing impacts on sovereignty and self-determination. 
• Equity-denied and equity-deserving groups face systemic inequities, but their histories and pathways are different from the experiences of Indigenous Nations. 

Although journeys toward justice may be different, there are commonalities in the inequities faced, and efforts towards reconciliation can inform the work of equity in school mental health. This work is done well when equity and reconciliation are advanced as distinct yet aligned efforts toward identity-affirming school mental health for every student.