Further help with TRC Calls to Action follow-up

In Mr. Justice Murray Sinclair’s presentation at the final Truth and Reconciliation Commission Gathering in Ottawa last month, he told us: 

“We have described for you a mountain. We have shown you the path to the top.  We call on you to do the climbing.”

Now KAIROS has offered important details for how to begin that journey.  It will be especially helpful for churches, but any and all of us can use it to our benefit towards finding new ways to understand our role in the Federal government’s assimilation policies and how we can help to repair the relationship between the First Peoples and The Rest of Us.

So take a look at
 http://www.kairoscanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/KAIROS_StrengthForClimbing.pdf
and find your entry into beginning the journey.

As you scroll through the document, perhaps you could check out some parts in particular:

<>  Be attentive to Indigenous voices in your midst.  (Some may be living next door.)

<> What does your church denomination say about the “Doctrine of Discovery”. (Anglicans currently have a commission working on that issue.)

<> Explore your own family history.  (Some years ago I was told by a young Quebec woman that her family had lived on land along the St. Lawrence River for eight generations, so she was a “native” just as much as “Indians” were “native”.  Really?)

<> In which watershed do you live?  (I think where I now live is part of a watershed that flows into Hudson Bay – but at this moment I can’t find the website where I saw that diagram – but you may have better luck on your browser.  At any rate, it’s impressive.)

And this one:

<> Introduce yourself at the Band Office of a nearby First Nation community.  (This may come as a bit of a surprise to First Nations communities who are not usually swamped with non-First Peoples folks showing up to ask:  “What can  I do to help?”  I hope the First Nations folks are ready for this.)

So, lots of very good suggestions for beginning to change the relationship between the First Peoples and The Rest of Us. 

I am most grateful for KAIROS issuing this very thoughtful and inclusive list of “things to do”, and I would dare to offer my own note of caution:

<> Never presume to know who is a First Peoples person – allow the other person to tell you who he or she is.  If it seems appropriate, I sometimes ask: “Do you have a tribal affiliation?”

<> Become at least somewhat knowledgeable about the protocols of interacting with First Peoples persons, especially Elders and Knowledge-Carriers, and learn to follow those protocols.  If you are not sure, ask an Elder or Knowledge-Carrier to explain.  If First Peoples find that you sincerely want to learn, they are willing to help.

<> If you plan to attend a Powwow or other First Peoples Gathering, learn the protocols associated with such events.  Having concern for such actions will hopefully show the First Peoples that you are sincere in your efforts.  In my long experinece of walking with First Peoples, I have come to believe that showing  respect is the first sign they seek from us.  In the words of the Treaties, we must honour our renewed relationship in RESPECT, JUSTICE, PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP, which, sadly, we failed to do in earlier times..

Or so it seems to me.