Iroquois peoples, the Haudenosaunee, members of the Six Nations Confederacy, entered into some of the earliest treaties in North America with European settlers. These treaties were recorded symbolically in wampum belts. The Guswenta wampum belt of 1692 records the treaty known as the Covenant Chain. A silver covenant chain was fashioned with three links representing peace, friendship and forever — the key concepts of the treaty.
Silver tarnishes easily, and so must be polished regularly to maintain its shine. Silver was selected for the covenant chain as a reminder that treaty relationships, like all relationships, require regular attention, lest they too become tarnished for lack of care.
The notion of “covenant” draws our attention as Christians. Twenty years ago, nine church leaders, including then-moderator Rev. Dr. Charles Hay, issued a pastoral statement calling for A New Covenant with Aboriginal Peoples. They challenged Canada to “recover some of the deeper spiritual meaning of covenant-making, the essence of which resides in God, the Creator, the Great Spirit.”
Aboriginal people often describe our covenants, the treaties, as sacred. Aboriginal communities hold annual treaty days. These are great community gatherings. People with roots in these communities often travel great distances to take part. Treaty days may begin with a ceremony at sunrise. An elder will lead the people in giving thanks to the Creator. It is a time to reflect on the gifts of the Creator to the people. And it is a time to remember the sacred promises between aboriginals and the newcomers to Canada, to share the land, to respect each others' ways, and to live, as the covenant chain reminds us, forever in peace and friendship.
It's quite remarkable how aboriginal people honour the treaties and their treaty relationships. After all, they are the people who are generally acknowledged to have gotten the raw half of the deal, to whom many promises were made but not kept. Yet they are the ones who seem to most value and uphold their treaty covenant with other Canadians — warts and all.
We can be thankful that, along with other denominations, the Presbyterian Church recognizes the covenantal nature of our relationship, and knows that it's time to polish the silver of the covenant chain, and restore right relationships with aboriginals.
In Exodus, we remember how God heard the cries of his people Israel, and remembered His covenant with them.
Aboriginal Peoples also have been asking to be heard.
Fundamentally, their's is a simple request: hear, listen, understand. And fundamentally that is where healing and reconciliation will begin.
It's instructive to note the emphasis placed on listening to aboriginals within all of the church's native ministries. Listening takes place in healing circles, in urban drop-in centres, and in house churches. Healing circles facilitate the process of what communications specialists now call “active listening,” ensuring that everyone who wishes has an opportunity to speak without interruption. As a participant in a healing circle, one commits to listening carefully when others speak, and waiting one's turn to offer one's thoughts. Everyone gets to be heard, and the process of waiting to speak creates an environment where issues are not so much debated but revealed in all their dimensions as each individual contributes their thoughts.
The 132nd General Assembly approved an approach to healing and reconciliation called, Walking Together. The name derives from the closing sentence of the church's 1994 Confession to Aboriginal Peoples: “With God's guidance our Church will seek opportunities to walk with Aboriginal Peoples to find healing and wholeness together as God's people.”
In approving Walking Together, the General Assembly called upon Presbyterians to live out this aspect of our confession. Members are invited to seek out opportunities to walk with aboriginals, to get to know them, to listen, hear, and understand our aboriginal neighbours within Canada. In so doing we will show love for our neighbours, and God willing, we will polish our relationship, renew our covenant, and transform Canadian society for the better of all peoples.
