Toward Indigenous Reconciliation
By Rev. Bill Christieson
Our churches have the responsibility to equip our members to faithfully confront the devastating relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Our eyes and hearts are being opened to the concealed colonial history of the oppression and marginalization of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people and communities. The 2021 discoveries of the graves of children at Indian Residential School sites has catalyzed a movement toward truth and reconciliation that is long overdue. In a movement toward reconciliation, a group at Westview Baptist Church in Calgary gathered this fall to engage Canadian history, develop a biblical perspective of justice and begin to create an imagination for moving forward.
Among the Calls to Action created by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada is a call for churches to educate their congregations with respect to colonization and the oppression of Indigenous peoples (Call #59). While not directly involved in the operation of residential schools, CBWC churches have a role to play in acknowledging the complicity of Christian churches, confronting the legacy of oppressive systems, humbly offering remorse and apology, and committing to the re-flourishing of Indigenous people and communities.
Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples in Canada is an issue of Biblical justice. Chris Marshall’s The Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach to the Bible’s Teachings on Justice gives an excellent framework. In a nutshell, justice is at the heart of who God is and who he calls his people to be. “Biblical justice touches on every aspect of life—the personal and the social, the public and the private, the political and the religious, the human and the nonhuman” (p. 10). In pursuit of the ‘right-ordering’ of the universe, Canadian Christians cannot neglect the need for reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. We witness to the reconciliation power of Jesus when we embody reconciliation with our neighbours.
Recognizing the daunting aspiration of reconciliation, the Westview cohort focussed on addressing their own social location within the movement. In their book Decolonizing Evangelicalism, Randy Woodley and Bo Sanders emphasize that non-Indigenous churches must take responsibility for their own (re)education—what they call anti-colonization. The group focussed on understanding their own history, preconceptions, misconceptions, biases and fears. They wanted to do the work that would prepare them to engage Indigenous folks with humility and respect.
To this end the Westview cohort confronted the reality of racism in Canada, in general, recognizing how the historically dominant white-European culture has a significant negative impact on all immigrant communities. In particular, these historic perspectives established a polarity between the advanced white-European colonial government of Canada and the primitive “savage Indians.” In the pursuit of colonial expansion, the Indigenous Peoples were seen as a problem to overcome. Under the guise of mutually beneficial treaties, the Canadian government systematically subjugated Indigenous Peoples and worked to eliminate their culture. The Truth and Reconciliation reports state that the efforts of the Canadian government, by any standard, amounted to cultural genocide. The Westview group took the time to try and understand the impact that oppression, generational trauma and government neglect has had and continues to have on Indigenous Peoples. And the Westview group worked to create an imagination for what a mutually beneficial and flourishing future might look like. The history is heavy, but our hope points the church toward a future marked by reconciliation.
Hope has been the product of the Westview group’s engagement this fall. The group has developed an appreciation for an Indigenous spirit oriented around relationship—with one another and with the land. An essential principle for the Southern Alberta Treaty 7 region is “we are all Treaty people.” The spirit and intent of treaties was to create a mutually beneficial relationship between Indigenous Peoples and settlers. Recovering this spirit and intent, we would be equipped to move into the future together. Likewise, the Indigenous relationship to the land is a model for sustainability and mutual benefit. Indigenous Peoples recognize they are intimately connected—related—to creation. What happens to creation always has a significant impact on people and communities. As those who have been called by God to steward creation, we ought to resonate deeply with this perspective. When we move from seeing creation as merely a commodity toward embracing our relationship to creation, we foster the motivation to act with discernment. The church has the opportunity to come alongside our Indigenous neighbours, begin to make reparations for the harm they have experienced and imagine together a future of mutual flourishing for all.
The Westview Baptist Church group has taken a first step. It is a first step that is accessible to other church groups. Support and equip those in your CBWC congregation that can champion and facilitate a learning cohort. Begin by learning the history of your region. Who were the original inhabitants of the land where your church is located? Learn about their enduring communities. Be interested in the lives of your neighbours. Be sure to listen to the history according to Indigenous Peoples. There are many stark contrasts to the lessons many of us learned in history class.
· The CBWC Justice and Mercy Network can direct you toward resources and support church groups. Connect with JMN here: https://www.justiceandmercynetwork.com.
· Jodi Spargur helps JMN and CBWC foster attentiveness to issues and initiatives related to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. Through Healing at the Wounding Place, Jodi is developing resources, services and events to equip churches to engage relationships well. Connect with Jodi here: https://www.redclover.ca/.
· The Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada have created a free course: Walking in a Good Way with Our Indigenous Neighbours. This course engages Indigenous voices and gives a good overview of history. The course is available here: https://courses.baptist-atlantic.ca/course/walking-in-a-good-way-with-our-indigenous-neighbours/.
· The University of Alberta offers a free online Indigenous history course. “From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores key issues facing Indigenous peoples today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations.” The course is available here: https://www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/online-courses/indigenous-canada/index.html.
· For help with land acknowledgments, Jodi Spargur has contributed the following:
§ When we acknowledge the original inhabitants of the land where we are we do so as a sign of respect and with the intention of provoking further thought and reflection.
§ Some of the land in Canada is unceded, which means that this land was not given up by the original inhabitants through treaty, sale or by war. It was simply occupied.
§ Other areas in this country are bound by treaties, which are commitments to sharing the territory. When we acknowledge the treaties we remind ourselves of the covenant agreements made about how we share the land. These treaties by and large have not been respected. As people of faith it is important to remind ourselves of the promises that have been made and call ourselves and our communities to be faithful to our word.
§ An acknowledgement can be a part of living out the apology made by churches for the reality and ongoing legacy of government funded and church run residential schools that operated in this country until 1996. It is a way to counteract the ideologies operating in the Doctrine of Discovery by naming that the land was not empty when settlers first arrived on these shores. It can be an opportunity to acknowledge the ways the values of the gospel were and are co-opted by the values of colonialism. It is an invitation to deeper dialogue in our community about how we long to walk in right relationship and how we continue to fall short. Let's keep talking about this!
§ Please check out the following website for an article from the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. https://www.pressreader.com/canada/faith-today/20210708/281479279368966
§ Here is the land acknowledgement that was developed at Westview Baptist Church. We acknowledge Westview Baptist Church is located on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (comprising the Siksika, Piikani and Kainai First Nations), the Tsuut’ina First Nation and the Stoney-Nakoda peoples (including the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Wesley First Nations). This is also home of Metís Nation of Alberta, Region III. As residents of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, we ought to seek to live, work and play in ways that honour and respect the spirit of the treaty and the lives of our Indigenous neighbours.
Finally, Common Word Bookstore and Resource Centre curates an extensive list of resources on Indigenous-settler relations. Many of the resources are free. Access these resources here: https://www.commonword.ca/Browse/8118