I am writing this column before I participate in a national aboriginal and church leaders tour to highlight the need for healing and reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. From March 1-10 we are scheduled to visit Ottawa, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Vancouver. (There will be extensive coverage of the tour in next month's Record.)
The following passage is taken from Philip Yancey's Rumours of Another World, and is just one example of the “amazing grace” Yancey discovered as he heard stories about the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was established in South Africa in 1995 after the election of a democratic government and the abolishment of apartheid which had pitted white people against black people. The commission was established to give black people an opportunity to speak out, in a quasi-legal forum, about the terrible atrocities that had been committed against them and to give white peoples an opportunity to listen to their concerns and, when appropriate, to confess their own complicity in the process.
The courtroom grew hushed as the elderly woman who had lost first her son and then her husband was given a chance to respond. “What do you want from [this policeman]?” the judge asked. She said she wanted [him] to go to the place where they burned her husband's body and gather up the dust so she could give him a decent burial. His head down, the policeman nodded agreement. Then she added a further request, “[He] took all my family away from me, and I still have a lot of love to give. Twice a month, I would like for him to come to the ghetto and spend a day with me so I can be a mother to him. And I would like [him] to know that he is forgiven by God, and that I forgive him too. I would like to embrace him so that he can know my forgiveness is real.
Most western systems of legal justice would have punished the policeman for what he had done. But, surprisingly and wonderfully, forgiveness was extended. “Restorative justice,” so familiar to our Aboriginal friends, which can take place in a “healing circle” was offered. And thus, the possibility of new paths of reconciliation and healing beckoned.
The Presbyterian Church in Canada is delighted that the federal government has made a commitment in the last throne speech to apologize to Aboriginal people for the sad legacy of residential schools. We are on record as affirming the benefits of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which will be established by the Government of Canada to allow former students of residential schools to share their experiences in a safe and culturally appropriate manner. We believe this will contribute to many opportunities for all people of good will to walk in new paths of reconciliation and healing as we seek to develop a more fair and lasting resolution of the infamous legacy of these schools.
Based on the experience and report of those who worked on the successful South African commission, we believe the work of this Commission will contribute to the Grace that can come to those who are in a place of vulnerability and openness. We believe this forum will allow the First Nation, Inuit and Métis people an opportunity for the Grace of “telling the truth, in love.” We believe it will provide an opportunity for many of us to exercise the Grace of listening to other people's real abuse, suffering and pain. Further, it will provide opportunity, once again, for the churches to acknowledge their past shortcomings and failures. We believe it will also provide opportunities for possible forgiveness to be graciously offered, once again, by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people and for new beginnings in our mutual walk towards greater healing and reconciliation.
We are committed to the pursuit of long-term right relationships with Aboriginal people. We want to help our church members and other Canadians understand that reconciliation is a long-term process of relationship-building, needing as many peoples' involvement as possible. And, then, as this is only a beginning, we realize that the issues in building a better relationship will extend well beyond the legacy of the residential schools.
