Aboriginal Issues
Apology to First Nations Peoples (1986)
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 for 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. |
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| For over three decades—beginning with Project North and continuing through the work of the Aboriginal Rights Coalition and KAIROS—the United Church has advocated for Aboriginal rights including First Nations' self-government. Much of our current advocacy focuses on supporting the efforts of Aboriginal Peoples to oppose the First Nations Governance Act and to propose alternatives. We also worked to promote the Sisters in Spirit Project, an initiative that was launched by the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) to lobby the federal government to establish a $10 million fund for research and education related to violence against Aboriginal women.
Justice and Right Relationship focuses on how we, as a church, are working to address the painful legacy of Indian Residential Schools, a legacy in which the United Church was directly involved until 1969. In both 1986 and 1998, the church formally apologised to First Nations people for its role in imposing western European culture and more specifically for its involvement in the Indian Residential School system. Through Justice and Right Relationship work, we endeavour to live out these apologies by addressing the issues of broken relationship that lie at the core of the residential school experience. |
united church.ca/aboriginal
www.united church.ca/aboriginal/relationships
www.united church.ca/aboriginal/relationships/fund
www.kairoscanada.org/en/solidarity/aboriginal-rights
www.facebook.com/s.php?q=London+Conference
www.nwac hq.org/en/index.html
www.ahf.ca