Unveiling the Paradox: Reconciliation Paths in Sweden and Canada.

Abstract: Sweden and Canada are internationally recognised for their contributions to defending human rights and managed to establish a reputation as humanitarian superpowers. However, both countries deal with the aftermath of a long violent past, concerning the dreadful treatment of their respective indigenous populations. In two separate contexts, the First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples in Canada and the Sámi population in Sweden have been subject to strict assimilation policies, violations and other expressions of oppression across decades, but now, things are about to change. The purpose of the thesis has been to examine the current processes of reconciliation in the two countries by analysing the presence of the indigenous minorities’ narratives in the reconciling work. Auerbach’s Reconciliation Pyramid has served as the theoretical framework for the analysis, consisting of seven stages working with reconciliation: acquaintance, acknowledgement, empathy, responsibility, restitution, apology and narrative incorporation. The findings of the comparative study are that narratives play an important role in reconciliation processes, as conflicts involving indigenous peoples have to concern both identity and territorial matters. The study indicates that Sweden has not integrated the narratives of its indigenous population to the same extent as Canada, which explains why the Swedish reconciliation process has not progressed further.