Indigenous Justice

Susie Silversmith and her husband Richard visited the Standing Rock Sioux camp recently to answer a call to people of faith to stand with Standing Rock. For more reflection from Richard and Susie and background on the situation in North Dakota, visit this Banner article. Susie was interviewed by Danielle Rowaan after her return.  

This post, detailing a CRC member’s participation in and appreciation of a full moon ceremony with Ojibway Indigenous people, provoked a lot of discussion at Synod 2017. Some people believed that the post promoted syncretism, inappropriate blending of one religion with another, and worship of a false god, while some people believed that the writer was turning away from Eurocentric expressions of Christianity and choosing to worship the one true God in non-European ways (ie. contextualization).

This month on Do Justice we are working to unlearn the Doctrine of Discovery together through our series "In 1492, Indigenous peoples discovered Columbus". Welcome to the series! To see other posts in the series and make sure you don't miss a post, visit this page.

This month on Do Justice we are working to unlearn the Doctrine of Discovery together through our series "In 1492, Indigenous peoples discovered Columbus". Welcome to the series! To make sure you don't miss a post, sign up here.

Spanish friar Bartolomé de las Casas recounts the final words of Hatuey, an Indigenous leader on the island of Hispaniola who resisted the conquest: 

The great Canadian humourist Stephen Leacock once quipped something to the effect that one of the good things about living in Canada is that you can look over fence at your American neighbours for entertainment and then give thanks for not living there. Leacock’s witticism reveals a smugness to our Canadian psyche. Often enough, we talk about American politics, and we quickly agree that they are simply American phenomena and part of the great American disease.

August has arrived! If you’re a church leader, you may be looking for a curriculum for your small group, adult study classes, or youth group.

In the words of Pastor Christy Knetsch, whose congregation in Grand Rapids has recently used several of these curricula,

“The Christian Reformed Church is committed to equipping congregations. I am so glad that we have been able to utilize these resources so that we can ensure that not only the head, but heart and hands are empowered to promote justice in the square inches where God gives us influence.”  

As I listened to the various reports from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, I became intrigued with the stories and lives of Indigenous people. Listening to the soft, yet brilliant voice of the Commission head Murray Sinclair, I realized all my preconceived notions were off base and steeped in white culture traditions. I set off to read some books written by Indigenous authors and learn more about the cultures, the pain, the past, and the future of our neighbours. These are some of my newest discoveries:

The Youth Ambassador of Reconciliation Program has officially begun! Two CRC members (Israel Cooper and Thea deGroot) and two CRC staff (Bernadette Arthur and Shannon Perez) have recently left for a week-long stay in Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation, a fly-in community approximately 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.

In the space of two weeks in June, over 400 people participated in two mass Blanket Exercises. Wow. Each one was significant in its own way.

I first participated in the Blanket Exercise (BE) just a few short years ago at a meeting of the Canadian Aboriginal Ministry Committee. Since that first experience, I have participated in the BE, led the BE as a facilitator, and taught dozens of people to be facilitators. I’ve done it with small and medium groups and large groups of up 200 participants or more. What a journey!