Of particular interest to me is Chapter 9 - "'I Suggest that You Pursue Conversion': Aboriginal Peoples and the Anglican Church of Canada after the Second World War", by Christopher G. Trott. The quote comes from Dave Courchene, President of the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood, speaking to the 24th General Synod (the ACC triennial general meeting), August 20, 1969.
Trott, an assistant professor in Native Studies at St. John's College, University of Manitoba, has worked with Inuit on Baffin Island since 1979, focusing on the history of Anglican missions in the region. "The history of the relationship between the church and First Nations has been seen through the lens of the residential schools", he writes, adding that this "close connection between the history of these schools and missions to and with Aboriginal peoples has obscured other problems and successes." Referencing the works of J.R Miller and J. Milloy with their intensive research on the relationship between the residential schools, the churches, and the federal government, Trott says with understatement: "Anglican involvement in residential schools is a painful story".
And he offers an unvarnished account of the relationship between ACC missionaries, the Church nationally, and the Federal government which I have read in other books and documents. When the author reaches the point at which the lawsuits have been launched, with one western diocese already in bankruptcy, and the General Synod drawing ever closer to the same financial position, I began to take special note, since I have copious notes in my files concerning that time.
The churches were trying to negotiate some sort of financial settlement with the Feds, but frustrations mounted as different church entities faced different numbers of lawsuits, and had differing ways of trying to meet their responsibilities. So the ACC decided to go out on its own to negotiate an arrangement with the government that would "meet the church's obligations in financial terms while at the same time allowing it to continue its ministry, and to expand the healing and reconciliation ministry with Aboriginal peoples".
In November 2002, the ACC and the Feds reached an agreement "that limited the church's responsibility to $25 million, ended Anglican Church involvement in the litigation, and established an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process for dealing with claims of sexual and physical abuse", Trott writes.
There was strong reaction to the agreement from the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP), since it had not been consulted in the negotiation process, and Trott suggests there may have been some reason for that, "but it certainly did appear", he continues, " that the old colonial models of the non-Aboriginal church deciding paternalistically on behalf of Aboriginal peoples were still in place, and that nothing had been learned since 1969 in the struggles for Aboriginal recognition in the church."
I remember so well that there were some of us Anglican church people who stood with ACIP, horrified that our Church should take such a cavalier attitude to such a devastating history. We supported ACIP's concern that the ADR process "would restrict the rights of those who might choose to litigate through the courts", and also would "abrogate (survivors' rights) to sue the government and the church on the basis of loss of language and culture."
I also remember my feelings when we realized what had happened between the Church and the ACIP - that the rights of Aboriginal peoples seemed to have been cast aside in order to keep the institution financially viable.
Trott writes: "Perhaps it took a financial crisis of this magnitude finally to focus the attention of the church on the needs of Aboriginal peoples."
I think truer words were never written, and I am pleased and relieved to see this acknowledgement of our failure to live up, at that particular moment, to what I think we as Church are called to do - to stand in solidarity beside our wounded brothers and sisters.
But I also agree that those were very anxious days for the Church, and we know that we are not perfect. In Trott's words,
"To what extent has the Anglican church thrown off the mantle of colonialism in its relationship to Aboriginal peoples? The Residential Schools Settlement Agreement would suggest that when push comes to shove, the church continues its age-old paternalistic role. In the modern period, Aboriginal peoples are positioned to respond quickly and make their voices heard in the councils of the church. There is hope here. ... As Canadian Anglicans struggle to assert the unique identity of their church in relationship to the worldwide Anglican communion, it will be only as we recognize the prophetic vitality of Aboriginal Anglicans that we will have something distinctive to say."
I am most grateful to Professor Trott for this contribution to "SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN: Studies in the History of Canadian Anglicanism".
