Indigenous Justice

Sometimes I feel it,

the green fuse that ignites us,

the wild thrum that unites us,

an inner hum that reminds us

of our shared humanity.

Belonging by: Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Do you sometimes feel it too?  Our interconnectedness? The way when ‘one part suffers the rest suffer with it?’  It’s this interconnectedness that makes reconciliation and belonging so important.  

A quick survey of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people brings about the realization of the truth of the situation. The Indigenous people of North America are over-represented in poverty, unemployment, child welfare, education system drop-outs, addiction, sex work, correctional services, and the like. Tent cities line inner-city streets as many of the occupants of these make-shift communities use illicit drugs to numb the pain of the reality of this world. Be careful not to judge, or you will be judged by the same measure.

Over the last few years, my own teaching and discipleship has been most inspired by theologians and practitioners from the Global South and First Peoples’ communities around the world.  These thinkers, writers, leaders, teachers, and artists are broadly connected to the movement of decolonization and post-colonial theology, in which people of faith from the Global South and First Peoples’ communities around the world – including my own, here in amiskwacîwâskahikan (what is now known as Edmonton) - are challenging the legacy of largely European, colonial church traditions.  

Recently, I had an opportunity to meditate on Luke 10:25-37, the passage on the Good Samaritan. Since I was commemorating the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, I read it from the Indigenous people and white settlers' relational lens instead of the first century Samaritans and Jews relational lens. When I read it through this lens, the parable spoke so much truth to our current reality and through this blog, I am sharing three insights that I was able to glean.

“Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years" - Genesis 1:14

The word reconciliation is often used in conversation when talking about the relationship between Indigenous and non-indigenous people. However, it can also be talked about in the sense that many Indigenous people are in the process of being reconciled to their families, culture, and communities.

My name is Harold Roscher and I am a Cree man who was adopted as a part of the sixties scoop. In spite of those events in my life I have been deeply loved and allowed to flourish. Although my story has been incredibly good, many of my Cree siblings in Christ have not experienced the same blessing.

2022 was 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.

A Navajo Vacation Bible School (VBS) group stopped overnight at our Denver, Colorado church basement as they headed northward to conduct a VBS on another Reservation. Of course, on their return trip home, our church broke bread with the weary VBS group and the leader shared their VBS experience with this writer.