Recognizing Stolen Sisters

Wednesday of the this week was Red Dress Day in Canada and the United States. It bring to mind the thousands of Indigenous women who are missing or have been murdered and recognizes that the abuse, abduction, and murder is still happening across the continent on a regular basis. In Canada there was a national inquiry into this tragedy and and a Final Report which "reveals that persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

While I didn't write about this on Wednesday I have been thinking a lot about the responsibility of Christian communities for circumstances which treated Indigenous women as disposable, including the Residential School System. 

I wonder how we can be more intentional about bringing the issues before our members in the United Church. The UCC had the All Native Circle which has become the National Indigenous Organization in our new denominational structure. WE also have a reconciliation and Indigenous justice animator for the United Church in the person of Sara Stratton. Still, we are a predominantly white denomination, so how do we raise the issues of justice and reconcilation in local congregations, especially now when in-person worship is restricted? 

The year before my retirement I included a number of images taken by local photographer, Juliet Dewal, at the front of the sanctuary of Bridge St Church and on the screens during Sunday worship.  Across the street at St. Thomas Anglican Church there were red dresses in the trees along Church St, a powerful visual reminder.

We can't ignore the historical and current realities of MMIWG, or restrict our acknowledgement to a day each year, can we? There must be No More Stolen Sisters.