Contemplation & Celebration on Canada Day

I am a proud Canadian and on this day as with all others I feel blessed to be born in this country during what in many respects was a golden age. The economy boomed after WW2, it was possible to attend university without a mountain of debt, and eventually we owned a home even though the Christian denomination I served started me out in clergy housing in outport Newfoundland. Ruth and I were both PKs --Preacher's Kids -- so we didn't have a lot of money growing up, but there was enough. As we raised our family we pinched pennies and clipped coupons but we had a full and varied life.

All this was the lot of two Canadians who lived in a time when we gave little or no thought to White Privilege for decades. Even though I had an adopted Indigenous cousin we had no idea of the Sixties Scoop nor the horrors of the Residential School System. It was at the end of my first decade of ministry that the United Church issued an apology for this systemic sin, followed by other formal mea culpas in the years to follow. 

On this Canada Day I am still a proud Canadian but I want to uphold the "rising tide" of the First Peoples of this broad land in terms of cultural expression, artistic creativity, and sovereignty. We have learned to acknowledge Indigenous title to areas that were never ceded and supposedly enshrined in treaties even though those agreements were often violated.

                                                         Haida Heritage Centre -- Haida Gwaii

Our recnet time on Haida Gwaii included National Indigenous Peoples Day so we visited the Haida Heritage Centre, a marvellous place. I can't describe how meaningful being there was on that day and seeing how a culture that was almost extinguished has revived and thrived. We also felt the sorrow of realizing how the institutional church was a willing partner in the cultural genocide of a proud people. 

On this Canada Day I'll bring to your attention the three new Canada Post stamps issued recently to celebrate three Indigenous women, two of whom I've blogged about in the past. They honour singer-songwriter Elisapie, artist Christi Belcourt and water protector Josephine Mandamin and were released on National Indigenous Peoples Day. We have a print in our home by Christi Belcourt. a Metis artist whose work we love. Josephine Mandamin walked around the Great Lakes drawing attention to the sacredness of water and Belcourt is a water-keeper through her art and activism. 

If we love this country we must love and respect those who were here when Europeans arrived, demonstrate humility, and make amends.O Canada. 

                                                The Fish are Fasting for Knowledge -- Christi Belcourt