Indigenous Justice

During a casual conversation between my daughter and I on a field watching her younger brother in a soccer lesson, she asked me what my favourite sport was. My reply was, “cycling”, and I continued, “...because that’s the only one I was allowed to and encouraged to try when I was a kid.” She, a Canadian citizen, who at the tender age of eleven has already attended a variety of sport and leisure camps, didn’t understand my response. What I meant was that I grew up in a country and culture where children weren’t valued as individuals or seen as contributing citizens.

Amidst the wildfire of a movement that Black Lives Matter brought, Canadians were pushed to confront their colonial history and their treatment of marginalized communities, myself included. This past year and a half has been heavy. Heavy with grief and uncertainty. Heavy with shame. Heavy with responsibility. In the heaviness of it all, I am learning to hold it in sacred space. To lament. To sit with it. To experience it and to relate to others who experience it as well. 

"He leads us on by paths we did not know.
Upward He leads us, tho' our steps be slow;
Tho' oft we faint and falter on the way,
Tho' storms and darkness oft obscure the day,
Yet, when the clouds are gone,
We know He leads us on."

- He Leads Us On (Hiram O. Wiley)

Shannon Perez, the CRC’s Justice and Reconciliation Mobilizer is leaving this team to become the Director of the Indigenous Family Centre in Winnipeg, MB.  The justice team at the CRC is deeply grateful for Shannon’s dedication, wisdom, and skill that she brought to reconciliation in the CRC.  We chat with Shannon about highlights from her time with the Canadian Indigenous Ministry Committee and what she’s looking forward to.  

"Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take." -Nehemiah 9:19

In memory of 215 Indigenous Children of Creator found in unmarked graves at a residential school in Kamloops BC, on the lands of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation.

Jesus said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Matthew 19:4

The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth. - Isaiah 26:7 

This last year I partnered with my friend Johnny Lee to help teach Christian youth about Indigenous justice through The Mustard Seed’s Seed Serve program. I usually start the conversation like this: 

Would you ever buy something from someone if you knew it was stolen? 

Most of the youth would say no way! 

What if you really wanted it? 

Still the answer was a firm no. 

Since starting as a student intern in January for the Christian Reformed Canadian Indigenous Ministry Committee (in the middle of a pandemic!), I have already learned so much.

Having little experience previously in advocacy organizations, I am continuing to gain both hands-on experience and a peek into the inner workings of how this kind of work unfolds. As part of my work, I have also been deepening my understanding of the complex and multifaceted nature of Indigneous issues in Canada and the history of settler-Indigenous relations.