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…

Five milestones for Indigenous ministry in Canada
|

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…

Performing and climbing: Reflections on reconciliation
| |

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
|

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…

Residential School scars
|

Residential School scars

Canadians are debating how and whether to reflect on Sept. 30 – the day set aside for Truth and Reconciliation. The day that honours residential school survivors. Past and present. Wish I could partake in that debate . . . not be living it.  I am a residential school survivor. I attended a Presbyterian-run school…

Time for reconciliation
|

Time for reconciliation

In the fall of 2006, I was appointed as the first Healing and Reconciliation program Animator for The Presbyterian Church in Canada. I was baptized Presbyterian at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Ottawa and am a member of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation. I am of mixed Indigenous and European heritage, and have lived…

Shocked because we did not listen
|

Shocked because we did not listen

Our collective shock at the recent grim discovery of 215 children’s bodies at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., means one thing: that we didn’t listen. Indigenous people have been trying to tell Canadians for years about residential school system tragedies; to our shame, we have not really heard or understood….