Reconciliation

Throughout the Bible, a clear refrain says that simply confessing truth is not enough.

Repent! say the prophets in exile (Ezekiel 18:30-32). Repent! says John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus (Mark 1:4). Repent! commands Jesus (Matthew 3:2, 3:8; Mark 1:15) Repent! echo his disciples (Mark 6:12). Repent! call the Apostles Peter (Acts 2:38), Paul (Acts 3:19), and John (Revelation 3:19). What is this call to repent? In the Old Testament Hebrew, it is the words nacham (to turn around or to change the mind) and sub (to turn, return seek, or restore). In the New Testament, it is the Greek word metanoia, the same root of our English word metamorphosis, that means to change or transform the mind, an inward response to unmerited kindness and mercy of God in judgement of truth (Romans 2:2-4) that is tied to a decisive, pivotal outward change in actions and behaviour in a different direction. The call is to turn: If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I [the LORD] will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:13-14).

The healing of our land will depend on the decisive change of heart and mind by all Canadians, rejecting the colonial worldviews of the past, pivoting towards new ways of knowing, seeing, and being with our Indigenous hosts on Turtle Island. It must mean substantive changes at all levels and all sectors: in our governments, in all our institutions, schools, businesses, economies, in our laws and media, in our churches, and in our own lives.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has issued 94 Calls to Action in order to repair the harms and legacies left by residential schools (and wider discriminatory policies and colonial history) and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation. The Calls are tied to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), an international framework for individual and collective rights that constitutes “the minimum standards for the survival, dignity, and well-being of the Indigenous peoples of the world”. [Extra tidbit for interest: Canada was slow to join the other 144 countries to adopt the instrument 2007 – in fact, Canada voted against it, together with the USA, New Zealand, and Australia; Canada was the last to sign the document in 2010 (while still reserving that endorsing the non-legally binding document will not change Canadian laws). More recently, the BC provincial government passed legislation to align BC’s laws with the UNDRIP in 2019, and the federal government passed an act to implement the UNDRIP in 2019... time will tell how that process will unfold.]

The 2015 TRC Calls to Action address key themes of Indigenous survival, dignity and well-being including child welfare, education, language and culture, health, and justice, as well the roles of specific institutions. Although many calls are specifically addressed to governments and public institutions on behalf of all Canadians, we would do well to each explore and act on what is possible within our own spheres of influence. There are also specific calls to the churches that were directly involved with residential schools (Calls 48-49, 58-60), but with relevance to all churches and Christians:

• To formally adopt and the UN Declaration as a framework for reconciliation, in our institutions, policies, programs and practices, including engaging in ongoing public dialogue about it
• To respect Indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination in spiritual matters, including the right to practice, develop, and teach their own spiritual and religious traditions, customs, and ceremonies
• To repudiate (to reject, and refuse to accept or be associated with) concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius
• To develop education strategies to learn about the church’s role in colonization, the history and legacy of residential schools, and why apologies to the former students, families, and communities were necessary
• To collaborate with Indigenous spiritual leaders, residential school survivors, schools of theology, seminaries, and training centres to develop curriculum and to teach church leaders and future church leaders to respect Indigenous spirituality in its own right, residential school history and legacy, the history and legacy of religious conflict in Aboriginal families and communities, and the responsibility that churches have to mitigate such conflicts and prevent spiritual violence.
• To establish funding for initiatives led and controlled by Indigenous communities for healing and reconciliation, culture- and language- revitalization, education, relationship-building, and dialogue about Indigenous spirituality, self-determination, and reconciliation.

To learn more, consider checking out these 94 Calls to Prayer, created by the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada.

This blog is a humble and incomplete offering in response to these Calls to Action. There is still much work to be done, to move beyond the familiarity and comfort of seeing history, contemporary issues, Indigenous peoples and ourselves through our own Biblical, Judeo-Christian, Euro-Canadian lenses, towards seeing more through diverse, sacred Indigenous perspectives and worldviews, and then, not linearly, but iteratively and concertedly, moving beyond seeing, to connecting, engaging, and relationship-building with our Indigenous hosts. We have a long way to go to find ourselves in harmonious relationship with the hosts of Turtle Island. But hopefully, prayerfully, this can be a step forward in that journey of reconciliation.

Questions to consider:

• What might I be called to repent of, in connection to my Indigenous neighbours?
• What might I be invited to do to contribute to the realization of some of the Calls to Action?