Greenland’s reconciliation process with Denmark is still taking shape, but Canada offers a warning about what can happen after a country formally confronts historical abuses. More than a decade after Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued 94 Calls to Action, much of the work remains unfinished. The comparison, highlighted by Greenlandic broadcaster KNR, suggests that documenting the past may be only the first and comparatively easier part of reconciliation. KNR’s analysis of the Canadian experience
The question has become increasingly relevant after investigations into the contraception case, also known as the spiral case, concerning contraceptive practices imposed on Greenlandic girls and women. Chairman of Naalakkersuisut Jens-Frederik Nielsen has called for a joint reconciliation commission with Denmark, an idea supported by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Frederiksen said in August that such a commission could help examine the darker parts of the shared history and create a basis for reconciliation built on trust, respect and equality. Statement from the Danish Prime Minister’s Office
Canada shows why reconciliation needs more than recognition
Canada established its Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 2008 to investigate the residential school system, under which Indigenous children were removed from their families and placed in institutions designed in part to separate them from their languages and cultures.
The commission collected testimony from thousands of survivors and completed its work in 2015. Its final process produced 94 Calls to Action, directed not only at governments but also at churches, institutions and wider Canadian society. The recommendations covered areas including child welfare, education, language, healthcare, justice and public commemoration. National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s 94 Calls to Action
The commission significantly changed the public discussion around residential schools. But implementation has been far slower.
KNR reported, drawing on CBC’s Beyond 94 tracker and the Assembly of First Nations, that only 13 of the 94 Calls to Action had been fully completed. Other monitoring organisations use different criteria. Indigenous Watchdog, for example, classified 14 as completed as of September 2026, while 15 had not started, 24 were stalled and 41 remained in progress. Indigenous Watchdog’s current monitoring of the Calls to Action
The difference illustrates an important difficulty in measuring reconciliation itself. Progress depends not only on whether governments announce reforms, but on what counts as implementation and whether changes produce measurable effects.
What a Greenland reconciliation commission would need
The Canadian experience therefore raises questions about the eventual design of a Greenland-Denmark reconciliation commission.
A commission can document abuses, collect testimony and formally recognise experiences that have previously been ignored. But if its work ends with a report, apology or symbolic recognition, its ability to change living conditions may remain limited.
Canadian researcher Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, who participated in the Canadian reconciliation process as an Honourary Witness and now chairs the Governing Circle of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, told KNR that Greenland and Denmark should pay particular attention to what happens after the truth has been established.
She argued that Danish society needs a fuller understanding of the history between Greenland and Denmark, including policies that marginalised Greenlanders. Education, cultural recognition, agreements, compensation and apologies can all play a role, she said, but reconciliation also requires addressing the consequences that remain in the present. KNR’s interview with Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux
That suggests that the future commission’s mandate, resources and follow-up mechanisms could be as important as the historical investigation itself. Clear responsibilities for implementing recommendations, public reporting on progress and long-term political commitments could make it easier to assess whether the process leads to material changes.
Truth can initially deepen disagreements
The Canadian example also challenges the idea that reconciliation should immediately reduce political tensions.
According to Wesley-Esquimaux, Canada’s process initially brought anger, grief and shame more visibly into public debate. She told KNR that this increased division should not necessarily be understood as evidence that reconciliation was failing.
Bringing previously marginalised experiences into the public record can create new disputes over responsibility, compensation and the interpretation of history. Greenland and Denmark could face similar tensions if a commission broadens its work beyond the contraception case to other parts of their historical relationship.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen has already indicated that the contraception case should not mark the end of that examination. “We need to bring everything out,” he told DR, according to KNR, adding that other cases also need to be considered.
For a future commission, this could mean that political disagreement is not something the process can entirely avoid. The more important question may be whether institutions exist to continue the work once those disagreements emerge.
Greenland and Canada are not the same case
Canada is not a blueprint that Greenland and Denmark can simply copy.
The constitutional arrangements, Indigenous populations, historical policies and institutional relationships involved are different. Canada’s reconciliation process focused specifically on the residential school system, while the scope of a possible Greenland-Denmark commission has not yet been defined.
Even Canadian assessments show why comparisons require caution. Different monitoring organisations do not agree on precisely how many of the 94 Calls to Action have been completed, because they apply different standards to government measures and their implementation.
What Canada can provide is therefore less a model than a test of what happens after a reconciliation commission finishes its investigation.
The Canadian process succeeded in making residential schools and their consequences much more visible in public life. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation continues to preserve the commission’s records and promote education about their legacy. National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation reports and archives
At the same time, several structural issues addressed by the Calls to Action remain unresolved, particularly in areas such as child welfare, justice and social inequality.
For Greenland and Denmark, the lesson may therefore be that a reconciliation commission should be designed not only around the question of what happened, but also around who will be responsible for acting on what it finds.
If the governments move ahead with the proposal, the choices over its mandate, funding, participation and mechanisms for monitoring recommendations will help determine whether reconciliation becomes primarily a process of historical recognition or also a framework for changing the relationship between Greenland and Denmark.
