Churches, Denominations and Religions: Living into Right Relations: October 2024

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Living into Right Relations: October 2024

Reconciliation and Indigenous Justice News from
The United Church of Canada

An Indigenous Framework for Reparations

The next National Gathering on Unmarked Burials takes place in Gatineau QC October 29-30. Hosted by the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites, this gathering will release an Indigenous-led Reparations Framework. Reconciliation and Indigenous Justice Animator Sara Stratton will be attending, and we will share news of this important gathering on our social media feeds (@Indigenousmin on X; @IndigenousMinistries and @IndigenousJustice on Facebook) as well as in future programmatic work. If you’d like to witness the event, please visit the Special Interlocutor’s website to see the agenda and where to view the proceedings.

40 Days on Anti-Racism: Indigenous Identities in the Church

Once again, the United Church’s “40 Days” program offers opportunities to delve deeply into anti-racism work. This year’s series offers live events each Tuesday until November 26, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. ET. On November 12, the focus will be on Indigenous Identities in the Christian Church, featuring leaders from the United Church of Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada. You can register for the event on CHURCHx. For more information on the rest of the program and how you can be involved, visit the 40 Days webpage.

[Image credit: The United Church of Canada]

Bill C-413: Criminalizing the Promotion of Anti-Indigenous Hatred

On September 26, Winnipeg Centre MP Leah Gazan put forward Bill C-413, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (promotion of hatred against Indigenous peoples). It is a private member’s bill which, if enacted, would amend the Criminal Code “to create an offence of wilfully promoting hatred against Indigenous peoples by condoning, denying, downplaying or justifying the Indian residential school system in Canada through statements communicated other than in private conversation.” The full text of the bill is available on the Canadian parliamentary website.

Gazan’s bill will not go any further in this parliamentary session, since an MP can’t advance more than one private member’s bill in each session (and she already brought forward a bill on Guaranteed Liveable Income). Nevertheless, this is a significant initiative that we can expect to see brought forward in the next Parliament, should Leah Gazan be re-elected.

Regional Reconciliation Work

People in the Living Skies region of the United Church have an ongoing relationship with the Treaty Land Sharing Network (TLSN), which seeks to honour what Treaty 4, negotiated 150 years ago, promised. This includes access to land. In this short video, Michelle Brass of Yellow Quill First Nation, and Nettie Wiebe of Maida Vale Farms and the United Church in SK, discuss how government policies have made access to land more difficult and more dangerous, and what members of the Treaty Land Sharing Network (TLSN) are doing about it. Learn more about TLSN and working together to be good Treaty partners at www.treatylandsharingnetwork.ca.

At the Tatamagouche Centre, supported by Bermuda Nova Scotia Regional Council and Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters Regional Council as well as many Maritime communities of faith, has a long-time site for reconciliation and Indigenous justice work. Currently, it partners with Wapna'kikewi'skwaq - Women of First Light, a non-profit group led by Indigenous women from Wabanaki Territory with the goal of healing communities, families and society by remembering and returning to the traditional ways of their ancestors. Visit the website to learn more about this work and how you can support it.

What’s happening in your area? Let us know so that we can share it nationally via the newsletter and/or social media. Contact Reconciliation and Indigenous Justice Animator Sara Stratton to share news and upcoming events.

River Run 2024: Support for the People of Grassy Narrows

Thanks to everyone who turned out in Toronto on September 18 to support the people of Grassy Narrows in their fight for justice in the face of more than 60 years or mercury poisoning. This included an incredible group from United Church communities across Ontario marching behind a common banner. We were proud to be part of this huge cross-section of movements sending a clear message to the provincial and federal governments that they need to compensate Grassy Narrows fairly for the ongoing mercury crisis and end industrial threats to Grassy Narrows.

[Image credit: The United Church of Canada]

Every Day is Orange Shirt Day!

Thanks as well to all those people and communities of faith who took the time to mark Orange Shirt Day and honour all those children who were taken to residential school. Keep wearing those shirts as a reminder that Indigenous children continue to be discriminated against in the education, healthcare, and child welfare systems. Your orange shirt is your call for justice.

[Image credit: St. Andrew's United Church, Massey ON]