declared spaces inside declared spaces

This site has extensive discussion of uncertain spaces and declared spaces. Much of it has focused on the big declaring that a church can do in terms of how welcoming and embracing it is. The outward signs, and the many inward ways which make the declaration more than just words and empty gestures.

One of the ways a church or organization can declare itself further, which has not been discussed here yet, is by having specific declared spaces within a broader declared space. As will be seen in the following examples, some of these specific spaces are physical spaces; others are "spaces in time". As well, there are also ways for people within a church or organization to declare themselves...


declared "spaces in time" within declared spaces

These are defined declared spaces that happen at certain times, within a broader declared space. Here are some examples.

example 1: standing stones services

Several churches in our parish hold Standing Stones services once a month, in some cases during the regular Sunday morning service time.

"Standing Stones is a gathering of Aboriginal and Non-aboriginal People to explore God in an Aboriginal Context.  We come to worship Jesus, infusing Cree symbols into Christian ceremony.  We smudge to purify our minds, hearts and spirits in order to come to a clearer understanding of God; we seek wisdom in Aboriginal story and scripture, we ask for God’s healing water and prayer on ourselves and our community and we celebrate God’s activities in our lives though the sharing of bannock and berries.  Standing Stones is a fresh expression of Jesus to the Aboriginal Community and to the diocese.  The hope is that this gathering is a means of Christ’s reconciling Love to heal ancient wounds and enlighten the next generation of all Canadians."(source)

[the spirit of alex decoteau]

There's a new park near my office here in downtown Edmonton, named after Alex Decoteau, with a red sculpture by Pierre Poussin in the middle:

Esprit celebrates the spirit of Alex Decoteau. Alex Decoteau was a national hero with distinctions such as being Canada's first Indigenous police officer; World War I veteran; Olympic runner, and first inductee to Edmonton's Sports Hall of Fame. Composed of metal ribbons that intersect in fluidity, the sculpture stems from the silhouette of a man mid-sprint. Esprit strives to honour the achievements of a national hero and will serve as a landmark for the park, as well as for the greater Edmonton community. By choosing an abstract form, the artist aimed to render the artwork timeless and symbolic to as many people in the public as possible. (from the plaque)

I love the way it flows freely against the backdrop of a government building in rigid concrete ...

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The park is located at 105 Street NW and 102 Avenue NW, Edmonton.

[naming ourselves: who defines Indigenous identity? article]

About identity and names and power....

Recent identifiers such as “Native American,” “Aboriginal,” and “Indigenous” are deceptively vague, attempting to contain all of the complexities and differences of each individual tribe under one umbrella term. The problem with such terms, of course, is that the bigger the group they attempt to represent, the more they erase complexities and differences and encourage homogenization. While grouping all Indigenous tribes and nations together can be convenient, the reason these terms became necessary in the first place is colonialism. Settler governments needed a term to differentiate us from the settler population (i.e., not indigenous to or claimed by a tribe indigenous to Turtle Island) to figure out how to exactly describe the problem we posed to their burgeoning nation-states. We could not be “The Hopitu-Oceti-Sakowin-Kanien’kehá:ka-Powhatan-Chahta-Annishnawbe-Beothuk, etc. problem.” We must be, simply, “The Indian problem.” Bearing that in mind, the question of how to define Native identity should always be split in two: how the government defines us and how we define ourselves.

Read the rest of the article at: https://thewalrus.ca/we-didnt-choose-to-be-called-indigenous/

[the dream we form by being together]

"As part of Canada’s 150th year, the Borealis Gallery opens The Dream We Form By Being Together. This exhibition centres on the theme of reconciliation and emerges from the awareness that art can play a central role in the process. Drawing from indigenous practices and understandings, the show seeks to rebalance colonial narratives within the much larger story of this place we now call Canada."

The exhibit runs until October 1, 2017. If you are in or near Edmonton, check it out!

More info

[we are all related]

I work downtown now, which means that there's lots to see when I go for a walk at lunch. Here's what I found in the atrium of Enterprise Square:

[ally or accomplice?]

I read a very challenging article recently. I don't know enough about the topic to make intelligent comments, but it does make me think about motives. Here's the introduction:

The ally industrial complex has been established by activists whose careers depend on the “issues” they work to address. These nonprofit capitalists advance their careers off  the struggles they ostensibly support. They often work in the guise of “grassroots” or “community-based” and are not necessarily tied to any organization.
They build organizational or individual capacity and power, establishing themselves comfortably among the top ranks in their hierarchy of oppression as they strive to become the ally “champions” of the most oppressed. While the exploitation of solidarity and support is nothing new, the commodification and exploitation of allyship is a growing trend in the activism industry.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.indigenousaction.org/accomplices-not-allies-abolishing-the-ally-industrial-complex/

[red works photography]

redworks.ca profiles the amazing work of Nadya Kwandibens, an Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) from Northwest Angle #37 First Nation in Ontario, Canada.

I love her vision statement:

We, as Indigenous people, are often portrayed in history books as Nations once great; in museums as Nations frozen stoic; in the media as Nations forever troubled. These images can be despairing; however, my goal seeks to steer the positive course. If our history is a shadow, let this moment serve as light. We are musicians, lawyers, doctors, mothers and sons. We are activists, scholars, dreamers, fathers and daughters. Let us claim ourselves now and see that we are, and will always be great, thriving, balanced civilizations capable of carrying ourselves into that bright new day.

Love the photos on her site too! Check it out at www.redworks.ca!

an apology from Manitoba Child and Family Services

For the babies and children seized by Manitoba Child and Family Services, predominantly from Indigenous families.

This is not about Indian Residential Schools or the "60's Scoop"; this is about what is happening in Canada today.

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we just want to say

You give birth to babies
again and again
and take them back to huts
without running water

it would be unkind to leave them with you
so we take them away
we give them away
cuz we know what's best

Forgive us
we hoped to have solved
the Indian problem
years ago

poem by rob g

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Read making a difference, one baby at a time.

Read #StopStealingOurKids - Christi Belcourt's indictment of Manitoba's child welfare system.


This is a false apology poem in the style of William Carlos Williams.
Read an explanation of false apology poems.

making a difference, one baby at a time

Our white friends to the south managed to do it. Jim Crow laws which enforced racial segregation in the southern states were in place until the 1960's. As the Civil Rights movement brought about legal changes, the state and local laws regarding segregation were overturned. In some ways, however, not that much changed and the U.S. situation evolved to what is known as the new Jim Crow, which is seeing (among other injustices and inequities) high percentages of black people (black men in particular) end up in for-profit prisons and many other barriers in place to prevent equal participation in society.

Here in Canada, one of our historical evils was the Indian residential schools: Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families and put into residential schools, forbidden to use their own languages and not allowed to practice their culture. Abuse was wide-spread. This took place roughly from 1876 to the late 1960's. The recent Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls it cultural genocide.

Understandably, Indian residential schools are done with. However, that doesn't mean that those in power suddenly believe that Aboriginal lives matter.

Around the end of the Indian residential school system, the Manitoba government began "systematically apprehending aboriginal children starting in the 1960s and placing them with non-aboriginal families — a practice known as the ’60s Scoop." (source). Read more here and here. Thousands of children were taken and placed in foster and adoptive homes. Just this past June 2015, the Premier of Manitoba apologized on behalf of the province for the 60's scoop. Yes, this is Canada - the Canada we don't here much about.

But is it over?  And now what's happening in Manitoba?

Child and Family Services workers are seizing an average of one newborn a day, without assessing the parents or their ability to care for their baby, according to Cora Morgan, First Nations Children's Advocate. She says,

“In this system, you are guilty until you can prove you’re innocent. They’re not going in and investigating to see if there is another side of the story. They’re not going in there to say, ‘How can we help you?’ … They just take the kids.” (source)

You can imagine the effects on a baby of being removed from its mother, put in care for the key months of attachment, and then handed back. And the cycle continues...

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Read more about the seizures of babies.

Read Christi Belcourt's indictment of Manitoba's child welfare system.

Estimated numbers:

The numbers of children in the system are staggering – it is estimated that there are today anywhere from 60, 000 – 70, 0000 Native children in foster care in Canada , a much higher proportion than the 20, 000 children taken in the horrific Sixties Scoop, where 20, 000 children were taken and placed into adoption or in residential schools, those institutions meant to “kill the Indian in the child”.

[final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission]

Honouring the Truth,
Reconciling for the Future
Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

From the Introduction:

For over a century, the central goals of Canada’s Aboriginal policy were to eliminate Aboriginal governments; ignore Aboriginal rights; terminate the Treaties; and, through a process of assimilation, cause Aboriginal peoples to cease to exist as distinct legal, social, cultural, religious, and racial entities in Canada. The establishment and operation of residential schools were a central element of this policy, which can best be described as “cultural genocide.”

Physical genocide is the mass killing of the members of a targeted group, and biological genocide is the destruction of the group’s reproductive capacity. Cultural genocide is the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group. States that engage in cultural genocide set out to destroy the political and social institutions of the targeted group. Land is seized, and populations are forcibly transferred and their movement is restricted. Languages are banned. Spiritual leaders are persecuted, spiritual practices are forbidden, and objects of spiritual value are confiscated and destroyed. And, most significantly to the issue at hand, families are disrupted to prevent the transmission of cultural values and identity from one generation to the next.

In its dealing with Aboriginal people, Canada did all these things.

(emphasis added)

Link to full PDF online.

[if this is an issue for anyone...]

An aboriginal person and their daughter are looking to rent a room, and this phrase in their kijiji ad caught my eye.

We ARE OF aboriginal descent if this is an issue for anyone...

It suggests that the following scenario has previously taken place, and too many times:

They posted an ad which did not mention that they are aboriginal.
Someone responded positively by telephone.
They went to look at the room.
When the landlord saw them, the room was suddenly no longer available.

And so now, they give a heads up in their ad so that their time isn't wasted.


How many other people do the same? How many others have gotten used to "giving warning", or simply avoiding places where they expect to be rejected?

And what can those of us who follow Jesus, do to make it obvious that everyone truly is welcome and wanted?

[#MMIW]

Jonathan Labillois' tribute to 1183 murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls in Canada.

For more information, search Twitter for #MMIW.

Artist's website.

Source: @windspeakernews

the ferguson in my own eye

After taking great pride in telling other countries how to be and when to shape up, and actively moving in to help them in this regard, the U.S. is getting some of its own medicine back. It's sounding like a case of having pointed out the speck in someone else's eye and then they turn around and say, 'hey, what about the speck in your eye?!'

Egypt is urging the U.S. to "show restraint against protesters" in Ferguson, MO. Kinda ironic, considering that U.S. President Obama made similar comments to Egypt in 2013 when its government cracked down on protesters.

A government minister from Iran referred to the crisis in Ferguson as a sign of "the phenomenon of racism" in the west.

And China also had something to say. (source)

Here's an imaginary response from my own government:

And in case you thought Canada was a better place... it might be for black people but what if you are aboriginal?

We have our own sordid history to deal with, and our own batch of systemic racism....

[fighting stereotypes about aboriginal people]

KC Adams, a Winnipeg artist, has created a series of photographs to fight against stereotypes about aboriginal people.

The series consists of paired photographs, one with a slur with question marks, the second giving the person's name and some words describing them.

What do you think?

Five more photographs and background information on the series:

Artist's website.

[buffalo shout, salmon cry]

Buffalo Shout, Salmon Cry: Conversations on Creation, Land Justice, and Life Together is the title of a provocative new book published by Herald Press.

"How can North Americans come to terms with the lamentable clash between indigenous and settler cultures, spiritualities, and attitudes toward creation? Showcasing a variety of voices both traditional and Christian, native and non-native "Buffalo Shout, Salmon Cry" offers up alternative histories, radical theologies, and poetic, life-giving memories that can unsettle our souls and work toward reconciliation.

This book is intended for all who are interested in healing historical wounds of racism, stolen land, and cultural exploitation. Essays on land use, creation, history, and faith appear among poems and reflections by people across ethnic and religious divides. The writers do not always agree in fact, some are bound to raise readers' defenses. But they represent the hard truths that we must hear before reconciliation can come."

(from Mennonite Church of Canada Resource website)

More info on this book, including links to reviews and to two podcasts by the Editor.

[walking with our sisters: exhibit]

"Over 800+ native women and girls in Canada have been reported missing or have been murdered in the last 20 years. Many vanished without a trace with inadequate inquiry into their disappearance or murders paid by the media, the general public, politicians and even law enforcement. This is a travesty of justice.

Walking With Our Sisters is by all accounts a massive commemorative art installation comprised of 1,726+ pairs of moccasin vamps (tops) created and donated by hundreds of caring and concerned individuals to draw attention to this injustice. The large collaborative art piece will be made available to the public through selected galleries and locations."

For more information:
walkingwithoursisters.ca

[progress of human rights in canada]

It's easy to see the shortcomings of others, and to ignore one's own failings.

This is noticeable, for example, in the American focus on commemorating the Nazi holocaust while ignoring its own holocaust.

This is noticeable in my life as I thought that Canada - my country - has been doing okay while our neighbour to the south has been pretty messed up. And then on the weekend, I came across the Canadian Human Rights Commission website and read through our own history.... which is pretty horrible.

For a sobering starting point, read this summary of what things were like in Canada in the early 1900's.

While the CHRC site also covers the negative aspects in our history, the highlights which I summarize here show how many of the human rights we take for granted in Canada have become a reality only semi-recently.

1918: Women received the right to voted federally (Caucasian women only)
1922: Married Women's Property Act (married women are allowed to own property)
1929: Women are legally considered persons.

[culturally revealing]

A friend lent us a book by René Fumoleau, a French missionary who worked with the Dene in northern Canada in the 1950's.Very interesting and often humorous read which is giving me a broader cultural perspective.

I especially like this story, because of the cultural values which contrast so much with the values I see around me. René writes:

After living for a few months of 1953
with the K'ashot'ine of Rádeli Ko (Fort Good Hope),
I was teaching them the Ten Commandments.
You know them: love God, honour your parents,
don't kill, don't steal, don't lie,
and don't commit adultery.

I explained:

"It is a sin
to do what we shouldn't do,
or not to do what we should do.
Sins are rated as big or small.
What do you think is the worst sin of all?"

The ten Dene discussed together,
and after a while Radisca explained to me:

"We talked it over, and we all agree:
The worst sin people can make
is to lock their door."

From The Secret by René Fumoleau, (Novalis, 1997) p. 13.
Emphasis added.

holocaust

The American what?

When we hear the word "holocaust", we typically think of the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II. This is also how Wikipedia defines the term "The Holocaust".

But there were other holocausts and other genocides, not only in far away countries but also right here in North America where I live, yet these are hardly mentioned. I am specifically referring to the holocaust of aboriginal people across the North American continent.

In the U.S. there are 36 museums commemorating the Nazi Holocaust. There are none commemorating the American Holocaust which killed millions of First Nations people....

cycle of 21st century life

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush writes in LGBT Rights -- Getting on the Right Side of History:

A vivid religious example is the United Methodist Church, which recently reaffirmed the idea that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. They did this while formally apologizing for the denomination's support of segregation and the oppression of native peoples in the past. Oh, the irony!

At the same time the Methodists throw one group under the bus, they extend a hand towards the groups that still have tire tracks on their backs. Of course, we know what comes next. In a few more decades, the Methodists will be having rituals of repentance for how they treated LGBT people.

Here's an idea. Why don't we just skip the "more oppression" part and move straight to the reconciliation and full communion? (source and full article)