Reflection for National Truth and Reconciliation Day 2022

September 30th 2022 is the second time Canada will mark a National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. It coincides with Orange Shirt Day, a grassroots commemoration marked by the wearing of Orange Shirts for children forced to leave their families and attend residential schools.

This reflection is designed to take approximately half an hour and we recommend that you take space to listen and reflect.  You will be guided through the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission about education with prayer and reflection prompts.   Engage in this podcast in the way that allows you to fully immerse yourself in this material: find time in the day when you can walk in solitude and listen, or enjoy a beautiful drive while you reflect. Curl up in your favourite chair to draw and journal while you connect with this podcast.

Listen below or on your favourite podcast service.

Introduction

September 30th 2022 is the second time Canada will mark a National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.  It was chosen to fall on Orange Shirt Day, a grassroots commemoration marked by the wearing of Orange Shirts remembering the children forced to leave their families and attend residential schools.  

The day, National day for Truth and Reconciliation  is a public remembering and lament of the colonial legacy of residential schools in Canada. It is a time of solemn reflection for all people in this land called Canada.  The establishment of this day also fulfills Call to Action #80 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We recommend that you look for opportunities in your local area to participate in events, because reconciliation starts in people to people relationships often at the local level  Local Friendship Centres are a great place to inquire about public events.

We also offer you this opportunity to reflect on some of the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as Christians who believe in a God who reconciles us to himself and one another.  

Thank you for choosing to reflect and act  on these calls to action.  This is a good way for churches to respond to the learning and unlearning that churches are called to in Calls to Action 59 & 60.  These calls to action ask churches to “ensure that their respective congregations learn about their church’s role in colonization, the history and legacy of residential schools, and why apologies to former residential school students, their families, and communities were necessary.”  If you would like to reflect further on this call to action you can listen to the Season 3 Bonus episode of the Do Justice podcast.

This reflection is designed to take approximately a half hour and we recommend that you take space to listen and reflect.  You will be guided through the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission about education and will be invited into  prayer and reflection.   Engage in this podcast in the way that allows you to fully immerse yourself in this material: find time in the day when you can walk in solitude and listen, or enjoy a beautiful drive while you reflect. Curl up in your favourite chair to draw and journal while you connect with this podcast.

Call to Action

“Education got us into this mess and education will get us out,” said Honourable Murray Sinclair, the head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  

Many people in the Christian Reformed Churchs have a deep appreciation for the involvement of parents and community  in education.  We know that education works best when the full community is invested in it, whether that’s through parent-run independent schools, homeschooling, or community support for public schools. The same goes for First Nations schools: When culture and language are celebrated and integrated in curriculum, and when communities and elders play a role in education, students thrive!

Education forms and shapes us all from a young age, so the violence of residential schools was a deep level of trauma for children and families. The scars have intergenerational effects still felt today and that’s why culturally appropriate education is an important part of healing.  

One of the significant problems, however, is that federally funded schools on First Nations have a history of receiving less funding than provincially funded schools.  This translates into poor teacher retention, inadequate facilities, and fewer learning opportunities.  The most recent 2020-21 report shows the grade 12 graduation rate for Indigenous students as 36.8% compared to a national average around 90%.  The Ministry for Indigenous services notes that this is a gap that “must be addressed.”  

However, when communities receive investment and have the opportunity to collaborate, the story changes.  For example, graduation rates in the Indigenous-led Sea to Sky school district in B.C. improved from 60% in 2009 to 95% in 2019.  The Mi’kmaq Education Act has seen the Mi’kmaq students achieve graduation rates above the provincial average in Nova Scotia.  

Join us now as TRC Calls to Action 7-10 are read for you.  These are the Calls to Action regarding education.  

Call to Action 7-10

7. We call upon the federal government to develop with Aboriginal groups a joint strategy to eliminate educational and employment gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians.

8. We call upon the federal government to eliminate the discrepancy in federal education funding for First Nations children being educated on reserves and those First Nations children being educated off reserves.

9. We call upon the federal government to prepare and publish annual reports comparing funding for the education of First Nations children on and off reserves, as well as educational and income attainments of Aboriginal peoples in Canada compared with non-Aboriginal people.

10. We call on the federal government to draft new Aboriginal education legislation with the full participation and informed consent of Aboriginal peoples. The new legislation would include a commitment to sufficient funding and would incorporate the following principles:

i. Providing sufficient funding to close identified educational achievement gaps within one generation.

ii. Improving education attainment levels and success rates.

iii. Developing culturally appropriate curricula.

iv. Protecting the right to Aboriginal languages, including the teaching of Aboriginal languages as credit courses.

v. Enabling parental and community responsibility, control, and accountability, similar to what parents enjoy in public school systems.

vi. Enabling parents to fully participate in the education of their children.

vii. Respecting and honouring Treaty relationships.

Reflection Questions 

Now we turn to a time of reflection, a time for you to actively consider what our shared future looks like as a nation committed to ensuring that Indigenous peoples have equal funding and community-led education systems.  

• Consider the rights you enjoy as a citizen and the opportunities you have to speak into the education systems that you and your family participate in.  Pause to reflect on this for a moment.  Picture what healing you might need if your children or your grandparents had been taken from their homes to be educated without any family or community involvement.  Picture the barriers that might exist if you or your children had to attend underfunded schools with no libraries or computers, in broken-down classrooms, and without enough teachers?  

• Now allow God into this space of contemplation. What words or images have been formulating in your heart that you would like to give to God? What petitions will you bring to him for healing and justice for Indigenous peoples, especially with regards to education?

When you are ready, step into a space of action. 

• Look into the Centre for Public Dialogue’s Education Together campaign.  This campaign works to address the inequity in education at a policy level.  Your voice is a significant part of making sure MPs understand the importance and urgency of answering these calls to action. The Centre offers postcards to “end the gap” which you can sign and send to your MP at no cost.  

  • What is the education system like in your geographic area?  Do some research and use the Faith in Action workshop to develop your own advocacy letter.  

• What passions and skills has God given you that you can lean into for reconciliation in this area? 

  • Are you a Sunday School teacher?  Could you involve a Sunday school class in an activity to teach them about this history in an age appropriate way?  The Canadian Indigenous Ministry Committee has resources that can help.  Is there a former residential school near you?  Plan a visit.  Do you want to learn more about reconciliation and the church?  Join a Hearts Exchanged cohort.  Do you read?  Consider reading a book about residential schools and discussing it with friends.   

Prayer

Let’s pray these words from Colossians 1:20 in the FNV “Through his Son he brought together everything in the spirit-world above and on the earth below into harmony with himself, making peace through his life-blood poured out on the cross.”  Creator God, bring your harmony into our relationships.  Help us to see the areas where there is brokenness and to join your peacemaking work.  

Song 

Let’s reflect at Jonathan Maracle, a Mohawk from Tyendinaga Territory in Ontario, Canada sings his song “Healing in Our Land.”  

Healing In Our Land, written by Jonathan Maracle copyright Socan 2021

Conclusion

Elohim, God of Justice Thank you for the ways your Spirit moves us to recognize and lament barriers to justice and reconciliation between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. Please continue to gift us with peace, joy and love as we journey together until Jesus returns.

Amen!