First Nation Eyes

There was an announcement on Wednesday that the author of one of those books staring balefully at me from my bedside saying "and when are you going to read me?" was nominated for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize. Thomas King, the writer, broadcaster and first aboriginal Massey lecturer, was nominated for The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America. King is also a First Nations humourist -- remember The Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour? It included segments such as

Gracie's Authentic Traditional Aboriginal Recipes (including puppy stew, fried bologna, and Kraft Dinners)

the Authentic Indian Name generator (featuring three wheels that could automatically create names like "Stewart Coffee Armadillo", or "Rosemarie Clever Tuna")

Gracie's Conversational Cree (designed for simple but useful phrases, such as "Please ask the chauffeur to bring the car around" and "How long will we be in port?")

The same day of the announcement  I was at Kente Presbytery, a United Church governing body which recently adopted a new name with aboriginal roots. We are part of Bay of Quinte Conference and Quinte is derived from Kente. Kente is the name of a French mission in this area and probably came from "Kenhtè:ke" which means "the place of the bay" in the Mohawk language.

At presbytery we went through what is called a Blanket exercise with the name “Understanding Our History through First Nation Eyes.” It was developed by the KAIROS organization and is quite effective because everyone present is a participant and it literally takes place on a floor covered in blankets. As the story of Canadian First Nations is told from the time of European first contact the covering of blankets becomes smaller and smaller. We hear how what began as the negotiations between sovereign nations who are equal degraded to virtual servitude and loss of self-determination through the Indian Act. Eventually our group of fifty people was a handful standing on small squares of the remaining blankets.

In the end we heard of the Canadian governments apology, which seems to have changed little. We were reminded that the United Church participated in the Residential School system and that the last school was closed in the 1990's, not the distant past.

I do wish we heard more about the Healing Fund and other efforts of the United Church toward mending our relationships with First Nations. And about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which is travelling across the country. A little of King's humour would have helped as well.

But I quibble! It was an important reminder that this journey of healing isn't over and that our denomination still has a lot of work to do. May Christ the Healer guide us.

Have you taken part in one of these Blanket exercises? Does it intrigue you? Do you feel well informed, or do you have just snatches of the story?