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Stacey Swampy was born in Maskwacis, Alberta. When he was 13 years old, his father died and he entered, what would become, 30 years inside the system – moving from foster homes to group homes to the young offenders systems and finally to the provincial correctional centre and federal penitentiary. When Stacey realized that he might die within this system he decided it was time to make changes and turned to the Elders who worked there to help him. Since then Stacey has become sober, embraced Indigenous culture and practices, graduated with a university degree and has worked tirelessly to help people get out of the system. Stacey has worked for Str8Up, Micah Mission and is currently back at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, this time working as an Elder. In our conversation with Stacey he talked about the value of learning his own story and about the importance of forgiveness, and how it is an essential step for reconciliation to truly take place. He explains throughout his conversation with us that not only do we have to forgive those who have hurt us, but we must also forgive ourselves. Stacey puts reconciliation within a problem-solving framework. He explained how the teachings from the elders taught him to let go of all the negative energy he was holding onto and finally move forward in a positive and healthy direction. “The way reconciliation is, is we have to forgive each other before we can move on and start to heal. If we can’t forgive people, then we’re still stuck in a part of the problems not the solutions.” Ben Borne and I invited Stacey to have a conversation around these five questions: 1. What is your personal understanding of reconciliation? 2. What experiences have led you to this understanding? 3. Why do you feel reconciliation is important? 4. Does forgiveness have a role in reconciliation? Why or why not? 5. How would you invite people into the reconciliation journey? Then we recorded his reflections. ***************************************************** Additional resources to explore: Str8Up Writing your Life Story Teaching by the Medicine Wheel Emotional Intelligence Toolkit Mennonite Central Committee Saskatchewan ***************************************************** Reconcile: Everyday Conversations is a project of Mennonite Central Committee Saskatchewan aimed at facilitating conversations among Canadians around our role in reconciliation. We thank Mennonite Church Saskatchewan for additional funding support. Project Coordinator: Heather Peters Co-host: Ben Borne Recording and Editing: Matthew Hildebrandt Music by Queen Queen Josephine