Five milestones for Indigenous ministry in Canada
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Five milestones for Indigenous ministry in Canada

The Canadian Indigenous Ministry Committee is a CRCNA committee that cares deeply about the relationships between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous people in Canada. Established in 2006, the committee has been leading the journey of reconciliation and providing resources for others on the path. In light of this, here’s five things you might not know: The…

Words set free
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Words set free

“Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who are hunted down and mistreated for doing what is right, for they are walking the good road from above.” Can you recognize one of the Beatitudes in that sentence? It’s Matthew 5:10 in The First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament, a dynamic equivalence translation….

Performing and climbing: Reflections on reconciliation
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Performing and climbing: Reflections on reconciliation

December 15, 2021 was the sixth anniversary of the release of the complete findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). I remember sitting in a conference hall in Ottawa on that release day in 2015. I was moved by the prayers of Elders, the presence of Survivors and the profound speeches of the Commissioners…

Healing quilts
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Healing quilts

Lucy Thomas, the fourth generation of residential school survivors in her family, was five years old when she was taken away from her mother and brought to Kuper Island Residential School in British Columbia. The students called it Alcatraz. While at Kuper Island, Lucy and her siblings were punished if they were seen talking to…

Nova Scotia: The cost of living, health care & fishing rights
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Nova Scotia: The cost of living, health care & fishing rights

The Liberals are the traditional federal favourites in Atlantic Canada, and they kept their majority here with 24 of 32 seats. The Conservatives made some gains, taking three rural seats from the Liberals in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. No other parties won seats in Atlantic Canada, but Liberal Jenica Atwin from Fredericton is a…

Ontario: Fighting indifference towards Indigenous Justice
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Ontario: Fighting indifference towards Indigenous Justice

There is a truism credited to a number of wise folks (Elie Wiesel among them), that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.Late last Spring, as political machinations pointed to an election, the stark truths of recovered unmarked graves at Residential School sites were high in the public mind. Given what Elders and…

What’s with the Kerfuffle about Lobster?
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What’s with the Kerfuffle about Lobster?

Whether the name is homard, lobster or, as Mi’kmaq call them, jakej, mention them in Atlantic Canada these days and you’re probably in for a tension-filled conversation on treaty rights and commercial fishery. The current focus on lobster fishing has its roots in the 1752 Treaty with Mi’kmaw people – a treaty right upheld in…