Introduction
In September 2021, the Presbytery of Seaway-Glengarry committed itself to implementing TRC’s Call to Action #59:
“We call upon church parties to the Settlement Agreement to develop ongoing education strategies to ensure that their respective congregations learn about their church’s role in colonization, the history and legacy of residential schools, and why apologies to former residential school students, their families, and communities were necessary.”
A program was developed to first educate the Presbytery. From there, members would develop plans for educating people at the congregational level.
Apologizing for the past is necessary but, in a way, it keeps the focus on us – i.e., we still do not get to know Indigenous people themselves for who they are today. It can also perpetuate the illusion that we are the ones with power (generally true) and Indigenous peoples are the victims (as if they never have power, which is false).
The goal is to honestly open ourselves up to better understand our shared history and get to know Indigenous peoples in the present AND to begin developing relationships/friendships with Indigenous peoples in our own communities.
The Plan
September:
Vivian Ketchum’s video “Every Child Matters: A Video from Vivian Ketchum for Orange Shirt Day” and clips from the Anglican Church’s video, Dancing the Dream were shown, followed by discussion.
November:
Presentation on “Worldviews in Collision” introduced us to the variety of Indigenous cultures, to the challenges we have had seeing past our own biases to see Indigenous peoples for who they are, and areas of cross-cultural collisions beyond what we expected.
January:
Presentation on the Residential Schools will go through some of the history around the residential schools, focusing on different phases, different types of abuse, and different forms of resistance.
March:
Presentation on the Abuse Continues. Healing & Reconciliation initiatives need to do more than focus exclusively on residential schools. This month we will learn more about the ’60s scoop, MMIW, “collaboration” and more.
May:
Presentation on Shining Moments in our History: This month we look at the times when we did get it right: stories of Presbyterian Indigenous ministers & missionaries, stories of right relations or positive reconciliation initiatives, and teachings from Indigenous Christianity.
June:
Celebrating National Indigenous Day.
The hope is to continue in the Fall of 2022 learning more about the Doctrine of Discovery and colonialism.
Afterwards?
Where will this lead us? We don’t yet know. We do hope that as we gain a deeper appreciation of Indigenous cultures we will also gain deeper understanding of how much we have hurt them and why church apologies are so important.
We also hope that, in the process, we will begin to build bridges into Indigenous communities and finally begin to get to know Indigenous people for who they are today (as opposed to being stereotypes or “victims” or however we have seen them in the past).
We trust God will guide us in this initiative and thank God that many Indigenous people are still willing to even talk with us.