Sweet songs under Alberta skies
| |

Sweet songs under Alberta skies

“Forget about Eddie Van Halen, forget about what the idiots on YouTube say. Learn your chords. Learn C, G and F – it all starts from there, the rest comes later.” Most amateur guitar players will chuckle at this comment made by Ray Mitchell (played by Alberta country singer-songwriter Corb Lund) to his 15-year-old guitar…

A generational project
| |

A generational project

Lead Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Commissioner Murray Sinclair is known for speaking in memorable one-liners. Seven years after the TRC’s release, two of these have stuck with me: “education got us into this mess and education will get us out” and “reconciliation is a generational project.” Both of these zingers have inspired our long-term…

Tawâw: There is room
| |

Tawâw: There is room

“You don’t belong” is a spoken and unspoken message most of us have heard at one time or another. We’re all familiar with that sinking gut feeling when we’re told that we don’t fit in. For many Indigenous people, this experience has been true even in the church, where they have received the message to…

Eat, drink and be reconciled
| |

Eat, drink and be reconciled

Lisa Raven’s first reaction to hearing Pope Francis apologize on Indigenous land in Canada this summer was: “Wow. That was really powerful.” She did not expect to be moved to tears. Thirty-six years ago, Raven was a student at Saskatchewan’s Marieval Indian Residential School run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. When she first heard…

An arduous journey and the long road ahead
|

An arduous journey and the long road ahead

It was a bus filled with hurt and hope. Sponsored by the Archdiocese of Saint Boniface, it carried 41 residential school survivors from the First Nations communities of Poplar River, Berens River, Bloodvein, Little Grand Rapids/Pauingassi, Hollow Water, Manigotogan and Sagkeeng to Alberta to hear the Pope’s apology. The hurt came from experiences at residential…

Remembering and waiting
|

Remembering and waiting

As young Ashley walks to school through the quiet countryside, a car speeds past her and drops off an elderly man by a dilapidated railroad track where the old train station used to stand. The First Nations girl recognizes her great-uncle and runs to him. When she asks Uncle why he has come to sit…

History and healing in five lives
|

History and healing in five lives

Author Michelle Good takes us back to the 1970s in her recent novel Five Little Indians. Among its awards are a Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Awards. Last year, it was the third best-selling book in Canada. For starters, I was surprised at the title. Very few Indigenous people refer themselves as Indians….

Sir John & King Jeroboam in an Age of Decolonization
|

Sir John & King Jeroboam in an Age of Decolonization

The Pope is coming to Canada next week, with stops planned for Edmonton, Quebec and Iqaluit. He will visit Indigenous, Inuit and Métis communities to speak with and listen to elders, church leaders and survivors of residential schools. This comes on the heels of the Pope’s meeting with Indigenous and Métis leaders in the Vatican,…

A new song for Indigenous Sunday
| |

A new song for Indigenous Sunday

“The Lord is God. He watches over all the lands, and we are put together, from the earth, by His hands,” sang Don Amero, a Cree musician and member of a Winnipeg CRC church. They are the opening lyrics to a song Amero wrote for the Canadian Indigenous Ministry Committee (CIMC). The committee’s focus for…

The gift of an expanded horizon
| |

The gift of an expanded horizon

This gentle, informative children’s picture book is based on the true story of the time author David Robertson and his father returned to the trapline of his father’s youth. In this fictionalized version, a young boy and his moshom – his grandfather – fly to northern Canada. The boy is excited because they are going…

Made for Flourishing
|

Made for Flourishing

I play flute; my sister Joanna plays violin. We find that duets written for different instruments rarely share the melody. We’ve become adept at swapping parts. Bowing marks become creative suggestions for my breathing and Joanna lowers those soaring flute melodies by an octave. Not all duets are created equal. In our relationships large and…

What good is an apology?
|

What good is an apology?

I have a confession: I am really bad at making predictions about the future. After discussing current events with my high school students, one will often ask, “Mr. Boone, what do you think will happen?” I always take the bait and then face my students’ teasing when I inevitably get it wrong. Some of my…