St. Paul’s United Church Sunday, January 29, 2006

More Than Crumbs – Justice and Hope for Native Peoples

Leviticus 19:33-37 Matthew 15:21-28

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A decade ago I spent a week on Vancouver Island as part of a United Church working group on education. One of our day-trips took us to a Native school in one of the reserves in the suburbs of Victoria. We didn’t know what to expect of this Coast Salish school but it turned out to be quite a remarkable experience for everyone in our group which had gathered from across the country.

As we made our way toward the main doors, we walked through an archway made up of two imposing totems carved by local artisans. Inside each of the classrooms had a name such as “salmon” reflecting their culture rather than a number.

We were taken into the main meeting area which had a vaulted ceiling. Suspended from above was a large canoe and along one wall there was an aquarium with salmon fingerlings. The principal came to speak to us and it was obvious that she was proud of what was being accomplished in her school. Not only were the children getting the “three r’s,” they were learning their traditions and culture as part of the curriculum. Everything about the place spoke of dignity and hope.

I was deeply moved by this visit, in large part it was because of where I was living and doing ministry at the time. I was the pastor of a well-heeled downtown congregation in the city of Sudbury in Northern Ontario. Sudbury was the urban centre where many aboriginal people, mostly Ojibwa and Cree, would come from more remote places in the hope of work. Far too many ended up on social assistance and often living in shelters or on the streets.

The church looked out over a beautiful city park and I would walk through it on the way to work. Often on a Sunday morning in the summer I would make my way past groups of Native people who had been drinking in the park through the night. It was not unusual to be approached by an inebriated party-er looking for some spare change.

I rarely felt threatened in any way but I often felt ashamed. For me these broken individuals were the living, breathing legacy of a long history of troubled relationships between Natives and Whites. On those Sunday mornings I would go on to lead worship in a very middle class, predominantly white congregation and while I could have invited everyone to come forward and look at the people in the park I never did. They might as well have been on another planet instead of a few metres away.

My feelings of shame and regret were not shared by some of my parishioners. They could only see the end result of a destructive relationship which had been centuries in the making.

There are no bible stories about First Nations and Aboriginal peoples in the bible, but there are plenty of passages which invite us to heed the call to justice for everyone. In the Old Testament book called Leviticus God’s people are told to be fair and even loving to the aliens, the outsiders, who come into their midst. Of course when Europeans arrived in North America they were the outsiders, and in many, although certainly not all instances they were welcomed. Quickly the tables were turned and the established populations became the aliens, often regarded with suspicion and contempt and relegated to reserves. You may have heard the observation of a Native leader that when the Europeans came to North America, the Indians welcomed them to sleep on the porch of their house. When the white folk began to tear up the floorboards to build fires, the Natives invited them inside to keep warm. Soon the Indians were on the porch looking in through the windows at what was once their home.

The gospel passage is about someone who was outside of Jesus’ Jewish culture who wanted healing for her sick daughter. To begin with Jesus says flat out “no.” It seems so uncharacteristic of Jesus, but that’s the way the story is told. She isn’t prepared to take “no” for an answer and reminds Jesus that even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall under the table at mealtime. I can imagine this woman pushing back in front of Jesus and pleading “hear me!” “See my daughter!” And it is as though Jesus has his eyes and ears opened to her as a person, a human being deserving of God’s love and healing power.

Native people in this country were not and are not demon-possessed, but they were certainly demonized at times and it was assumed that they needed to be changed and healed in a certain way. It has taken a long time for governments and churches to realize that they need to be listening. There is a United Church study resource called Hear Our Voices: First Nations of Canada Speak which encourages us to pay attention and learn from aboriginals in our country.

Do we expect that Aboriginal peoples in Canada will get more than the crumbs and will actually be heard and respected? There is a sorry history of Aboriginal peoples in Canada getting the scraps from the table and not much more. They have limited access to post-secondary education. They have a much higher incidence of a variety of diseases. Their standard of living is generally lower than the national average, as is their life expectancy.

During the past year there were a number of news items related to Aboriginal peoples. The story that came closest to home was the supreme court ruling that Christian denominations, including the United Church were liable for twenty-five percent of the damages awarded to Natives who had been abused in the residential schools across the country. Several Christian denominations ran residential schools where physical and sexual abuse took place and every effort was made to extinguish aboriginal languages and culture.

We were jolted by news of the deplorable conditions in a Native reserve here in Ontario where a contaminated water supply led to the evacuation of the community.

We continue to hear about the inquiry into the violent and deadly stand-off between police and native protestors at the Ipperwash Provincial Park here in Ontario.

There was a major conference involving Aboriginal leaders and First Ministers in Kelowna, British Columbia which resulted in a mutually accepted ten-year action plan to support education, reduce infant mortality, improve living conditions, and reduce poverty.

Each of these stories bears witness to the inequalities in our culture which can seem almost insurmountable. Of course as Christians we are people of hope and it’s important to remember that we have taken steps in the United Church to do more than throw around crumbs as we right old wrongs and chart a different course

We have accepted responsibility for injustices in the Residential School system. To date our church has compensated those who were abused and wronged to the tune of six million dollars, and the total will likely reach eleven million by the time we are done.

We have created a Conference of the United Church called the All Native Circle which gives the opportunity for Native congregations from across the country to speak with their own voices rather than as a tiny minority amongst predominantly white congregations.

We have also created what is called the Healing Fund, which is totally separate from the settlement of lawsuits. This money is given out in grants to Native groups which are addressing violence in the family, and addiction issues, and leadership training. Since the Healing Fund was established twelve years ago nearly a million and a half dollars have been contributed by United Church members and some of you still make regular contributions.

It’s also important to remember that twenty years ago the United Church said it was sorry for the wrongs the church had committed against Natives. In 1986, not long before our family moved to Sudbury the United Church issued an apology to the Aboriginal peoples of Canada in a ceremony in a teepee set up on the grounds of Laurentian University. I have to admit that at the time I was annoyed by the “do-gooderism”of our church apologizing for things that previous generations had done. Why did we need to apologize for mistakes I hadn’t made? I came to realize what an important symbolic act this was, and since then other churches have taken similar action. Here is our apology:

Long before my people journeyed to this land your people were here, and you received from your Elders an understanding of creation and of the Mystery that surrounds us all that was deep, and rich, and to be treasured.

We did not hear you when you shared your vision. In our zeal to tell you of the good news of Jesus Christ we were closed to the value of your spirituality.

We confused Western ways and culture with the depth and breadth and length and height of the gospel of Christ.

We imposed our civilization as a condition of accepting the gospel.

We tried to make you be like us and in so doing we helped to destroy the vision that made you what you were. As a result, you, and we, are poorer and the image of the Creator in us is twisted, blurred, and we are not what we are meant by God to be.

We ask you to forgive us and to walk together with us in the Spirit of Christ so that our peoples may be blessed and God's creation healed.

The 31st General CouncilAugust 1986The United Church of Canada

All of these initiatives have been important. Ultimately, though, it is not what we do for our Native brothers and sisters. It is how we are in partnership with them for a better future. The school we visited on Vancouver Island was a powerful reminder that ultimately our Native communities will draw on their own strengths and dignity to reestablish a sense of meaning and hope for their children and their children’s children. This may take many years and several generations, but it can happen, by the grace of the Creator and Redeemer.

Before the traditional Iroquois convened their council meetings, they invoked this declaration: “In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” Our decisions today as people of Christ in the United Church can have a positive outcome for Native peoples for those seven generations and more.

I will leave you this morning with a visual image, a painting created by Native artist Blake Debassige. It hangs in the chapel of a Jesuit centre built for Natives near Manitoulin Island. The chapel is built “in the round” with symbols of the four directions. The painting is a crucifix with the figure of Christ hung on the tree. But this is the Tree of Life, a reminder that the resurrection is yet to come for all of creation. It is also a hopeful sign for what can be if we hear and see one another as people of the Risen Christ.