Indigenous Justice

This morning a radio announcer went with a pithy headline: "Yesterday First Nations Chiefs Left $1.9 Billion on the Table."

Reconciliation requires lamentation. An expression of sorrow at the ways we allow oppression to persist is an important step before true reconciliation can take place. Accordingly, this is my reconciliation lamentation…

Growing up, I had very little contact with my Mohawk heritage. As a third-generation, church-going, Indigenous person who grew up off-reserve, I feel this scenario is reflective of the separation that has occurred between the Indigenous nations and the rest of Canada – and also of the rift that currently exists between the church and Indigenous peoples. 

If you won a court case for horrendous abuse, what would you demand? Money? Indigenous peoples in Canada asked for a chance to tell their stories of residential schools to the nation, to teach others about a part of our history that often doesn’t get much space in the history textbooks. (If you’re American, you’re not off the hook. Our countries share a very similar story about residential schools.)

When I started to learn about injustices that were happening to indigenous peoples all over the world I wanted to do all that I could to help and fix them. I wanted to move all over the world and help everyone with everything. This, I soon realized, was impossible. I started trying to figure out how I could help best. This led me to study environmental studies and international development in college, which led to thoughts about working internationally on human rights issues.

Over the past year and a half, myself, as well as the community surrounding me have gone through quite a reformation in thought in terms of indigenous people, their impact on our lives, and vice versa. I had the opportunity to be apart of a team of students from Trinity Western University to visit, and live with the people in Fort Babine, an indigenous reserve located an hour north of Smithers, BC.

"Over the past three years I've been wrestling with my role in Reconciliation as an emerging teacher in Canada and my identity within Canada’s past- that is, what can I as a young, white, idealistic Christian woman do? All of these identifiers set me apart as ‘the other’."

Sound bites and political theatre: federal budgets and major policy announcements can often look like nothing more than political posturing. In response we might trot out the clichés: the devil is in the details…the proof is in the pudding…show me the money! But as our friends at Citizens for Public Justice often remind us, values are at the root of budgets and public policy. When government promises for First Nation Control of First Nation Education are made – as in the Feb. 10 Budget and the Prime Minister and AFN National Chief Atleo’s announcement on Feb.

This is one of my favorite passages from Nicholas Wolterstorff. I first appreciated its significance on July 4, 2011, when I was living in Colombia, South America, participating in the Mennonite Central Committee’s Seed program. We were a mix of people from all the Americas: Peru, Colombia, Mexico, US, and Canada. On American Independence Day, with the smell of brownies in the oven and Taylor Swift playing in the background, we came together—not to celebrate our country, but to recognize where we came from.

It would be easy to administer rectifying justice to strangers and keep a closed heart, go back home to where it is safe, and keep God at a distance. But once we are in relationship, we will be able to see the gifts in the other person and able to accept the blessings they have to offer.