It’s been quite a ride since we kicked off the Recognition2Action.ca campaign a little over two months ago.

Here are five exciting signs of progress so far: 

1. The Recognition2Action.ca network now includes over 35 diverse leading Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations. This already a powerful network of organizations and almost every week the list grows.  Some of our recent additions include Assembly of First Nations (AFN), Hua Foundation, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), and the National Council of Canadian Muslims. Your organization can join HERE.

2. With over 50 posts, we’ve reached over 138,000 people on social media and seen hundreds of comments of dialogue about the role of Indigenous people in the history of Canada. Some individual posts are reaching an impressively large audiences on social media. 

3. We’ve put together a powerful resource page full of educational images and other key pieces of content. We also have scores of blogs up including in depth content such as Professor Kathleen Mahoney’s blog where she breaks down the legal case for Recognition legislation.

4. Over 8,000 people have either sent a Recognition2Action.ca message to Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister Carolyn Bennett  and/or their Members of Parliament. Some MPs have taken time to write back to supporters to acknowledge the campaign, like the following reply to a letter sent by our campaign regarding Senator Beyak:

   “In my view, there can be no justification of comments that assert that something “positive” could come out of what can only be described as an official policy of cultural genocide. That a sitting Senator not only has made these unacceptable comments – but stood by them in the face of calls for how to retract them – makes her unfit to discharge the duties Canadians expect of a member of a Chamber of “sober second thought”

5. After Senator Beyak harmful statements and many supporters expressed outrage online, she has been removed from the Senate’s Committee on Aboriginal Peoples!

We’ve also seen high profile figures come out in support of the campaign including Phil Fontaine, NDP leadership candidate Peter Julian and Green Party leader Elizabeth May.  We’ve heard that we’re turning heads in the government and we expect to see a lot more support in the coming weeks!

We need to continue growing the community supporting this initiative, but we’re making headway.

Please keep updated on the project via the blog, Facebook and Twitter.

And don’t forget to take action using our newly updated contact your Member of Parliament tool.

Thank you to everyone who has joined the campaign so far!