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JF

Janice Forsyth

Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Sociology, Director of Indigenous Studies, Western University
Reconciling Sport: A Framework for Justice
Reconciling Sport: A Framework for Justice
Canada’s federal government lacks a coordinated approach to understanding what it means to engage in “Truth and Reconciliation” with Indigenous people in sport. This is a problem in settler-colonial states where, in a decentralized context, non-Indigenous people and organizations are encouraged to pick up the work of engaging in Truth and Reconciliation and then go on to train others about what they know, often reproducing the damage that created the need for Truth and Reconciliation in the first place._x000D_
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This paper is our initial attempt to bring some level of coordination to Canadian sport and reconciliation by mapping the contours of what Truth and Reconciliation means, as well as what it looks like for sport. For structure, we turn to Nancy Fraser's work, which outlines three types of injustice that marginalized groups face: socioeconomic, cultural-symbolic, and representation. The latter, representation, seems particularly relevant as representative justice, in her view, must include equal participation in "political claims-making" and "parity of participation”._x000D_
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This paper aligns well with the Open Session on Sport and Decolonization by pulling together academic knowledge with practical experience in the hopes of initiating broader political change. Discussion and critiques are welcomed and encouraged.