For the child taken,
For the parent left behind (Truth and Reconciliation Commission)
In two days, the third Truth and Reconciliation Commission National Event will begin. Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, residential school survivors, elders and children, former residential school staff, leaders and members of communities, churches, organizations, and governments from Canada and around the world will gather in Halifax, Nova Scotia from October 26 to 29.
As happened in Inuvik, NT last June, and in Winnipeg the year before, those gathered and those following the Event through the media will hear about the experiences of those who attended residential school as children, and the stories of their children and grandchildren who live with the intergenerational effects of residential schools in families and communities. The theme of the Atlantic Event is “Love – a national journey for healing, families and reconciliation.”
We will hear church leaders acknowledge the role of the Church in running residential schools. The Anglican Church of Canada did not operate residential schools in Atlantic Canada -- Shubenacadie Residential School in Nova Scotia was opened in 1922 and run by the Roman Catholic Church. However, we continue to acknowledge our involvement in operating more than 30 residential schools across Canada.
When the TRC held its first community hearing in Fredericton on September 8, Archbishop Claude Miller was moved while listening to the stories of former students from Shubenacadie. Our Primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz and Bishop of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Sue Moxley will participate in this week’s program in the Commissioners’ Welcome; the Circle of Reconciliation; and, the Commissioners’ Sharing Panel. Staff will provide resources from church archives and educational resources about Anglican participation in the colonization effort that destroyed Indigenous language, culture and identity. KAIROS (the Anglican Church is an active member) plans to make a presentation to the Commissioners and set up a display. Area high school students will be particularly welcomed for “education day” on Thursday.
We anticipate learning about the culture and language recovery efforts of the Maliseet and Mi’kmaq peoples. We have worked with translators, Opolahsomuwehs and Joan Milliea, to translate the 1993 Anglican Apology into Maliseet and Mi’kmaq languages. Those translations have been validated by three grandmothers – Carmel Boucher and Betty McCoy (Maliseet), and Millie Milliea (Mi’kmaq) -- http://www.anglican.ca/relationships/trc/apology/
On Saturday, October 29 those at the Event will join in a community feast and birthday celebration for all those who missed out on celebrating childhood gatherings and feasts during residential school years. Local Anglicans and people from Roman Catholic, United and Presbyterian Churches have coordinated their efforts around the birthday celebration and the provision of breakfasts throughout the National Event. The Atlantic Anglican coordinating team – Bishop Sue Moxley, the Rev. Cathy Lee Cunningham, Andy Sherin, and Ted Haslam – ensured that we were actively represented in regional coordination around culture and program, and planning and logistics.
You can follow the TRC Atlantic National Event through upcoming reports in the online Anglican Journal – www.anglicanjournal.com/ and other news media, as well as through information provided on the Anglican Church of Canada web site – http://www.anglican.ca/relationships/trc/.
Above all, we invite the whole Church to pray for the Atlantic National Event – that God’s Spirit will assist us all on a national journey of love -- for healing, families and reconciliation -- in more ways than we can ask or imagine.
Creator God, from you every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. You have rooted and grounded us in your covenant love, and empowered us by your Spirit to speak the truth in love, and to walk in your way towards justice and wholeness.
Mercifully grant that your people, journeying together in partnership, may be strengthened and guided to help one another grow into the full stature of Christ, who is our light and our life.
Amen.
(A New Agape, The Anglican Indigenous Covenant Collect)
Henriette Thompson
Coordinator of Ecumenical, Interfaith and Government Relations
Office of the Primate
Anglican Church of Canada
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