Canada

How shall we demonstrate our solidarity with our First Nations brothers and sisters? 

Mark Vanderwees from Diaconal Ministries Canada joins us to talk about his journey to becoming a deacon and suggestions for best practices for deacons. This episode discusses the evolving role of deacons, community engagement, and practical support for church benevolence and justice initiatives.

In my email to the editor of Do Justice, I asked, ‘How can I talk about how our bodies are disposed of in the dump or in the river and without being blunt, crude, disrespectful or violently graphic about it?’  I am not exaggerating. This is happening way too often. We Indigenous women are being murdered, then denied proper funerals (left in a landfill and in the rivers) and our families are left with no ceremony to help heal from the violent death of our loved ones. Our legal system hasn’t provided the justice balm needed to move beyond grief.

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the 99

- Reckless Love, Cory Asbury

Our true identity is flat and plain, not puffed up with the wrong kind of ingredient. The Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has already been sacrificed for the Passover meal, and we are the Unraised Bread part of the Feast. So let’s live out our part in the Feast, not as raised bread swollen with the yeast of evil, but as flat bread—simple, genuine, unpretentious. - 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

Indigenous identity fraud has become so common that there is a “Pretendian List” circulating on the internet that includes Canadians and Americans.  The term “Pretendian” is used to call out a person who has falsely claimed Indigenous identity.  Many sectors of society and in particular universities are facing this fraud and the injustice it brings to Indigenous communities, students, staff and faculty of educational institutes. 

Recently I visited Joseph Bya and his wife Sana in their home in Cornwall, Ontario. Sitting in their bright, comfortable kitchen, we reminisced about the day, 8 years earlier, when we first met in person. We met at the Ottawa airport on May 26, 2016. I was there with my husband, George, and a group of people from our refugee committee. We were excited, but also a bit apprehensive. As we watched the escalator for signs of Joseph and his family, we wondered if they would be exhausted from their long journey.

I have had the privilege of participating in several conferences this spring, each of which touched on a different aspect of my work on poverty in Canada. They explored issues including housing, reconciliation, polarization, income security, and climate change, and brought together church folks, academics, advocates, people with lived experience of poverty, service providers, and government representatives from across the country.