Three days before Canada celebrated its 150th birthday, a group of indigenous protesters erected a large teepee on the lawn in front of Canada's parliament buildings, as a symbol of the mistreatment their ancestors had received from the colonizers of this country.
They had tried to set the teepee up the previous evening, but had been forced off the parliamentary lawn by the police. Which also seems symbolic. It re-played the experience of Canada’s original inhabitants ever since Jacques Cartier landed on the Gaspe Peninsula in 1534 and claimed Canada for France.
Or perhaps it started in 1497, just five years after Columbus discovered the Americas, when John Cabot, born Giovanni Caboto, landed in Newfoundland and claimed it for King Henry VII of England.
Except that Newfoundland wasn’t part of Canada yet.
But then, neither was Gaspe.
A legal fiction
The land mass now known as Canada has existed a lot longer than 150 years. Rocks around Hudson’s Bay go back roughly four billion years.
People have lived on that land a lot longer than 150 years. The First Peoples arrived here at least 12,000 years ago. Maybe longer.
Canada’s 150th birthday actually celebrates a legal fiction. On July. 1, 1867, a stroke of the pen in London changed Canada from a colony to a nation. Not yet fully independent -- Canadian government decisions could be appealed to the British parliament for adjudication. Britain still had to approve changes in women’s legal rights, for example.
Full independence didn’t come until April 17, 1982, when the British parliament approved Canada’s new Constitution Act.
The 1867 Canada wouldn’t be recognizable today. It had only four provinces -- Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. The present country, with ten provinces and three territories stretching north to the Pole, only took its current shape April 1, 1999. The creation of Nunavut as the third northern territory resulted from the largest land claims agreement between the Canadian government and the Inuit people.
The question we haven’t asked
By some coincidence, during the week before Canada Day, a small group at my church had discussed ways of repairing the harm done by the colonial mindsets of past generations.
Not until later did I realize they that our thoughts perpetuated that colonial mindset. They were about what we could do for them. (I’m deliberately using first person pronouns for the predominantly white, affluent, largely urban society to which I belong, and third person for indigenous peoples.)
All around the world, the colonial mindset has imposed our values on them. Our models of governance. Our education systems. Our currency. Our moral codes. Our religion.
Oh, and by the way, our diseases, our alcohol, and our addictions.
Maybe we were right. Maybe our ways would have overwhelmed theirs anyway, no matter what we did.
And so, with the best of intentions, we now ask ourselves what we can do to improve their situation.
But – and here’s the point -- we never ask them how they might like us to change.
Maybe they don’t know. Maybe, with 634 recognized “nations” and bands, representing 1.8 million status and non-status members, a consensus isn’t possible. And maybe the ways they would want us to change would be unacceptable to us.
I don’t know. None of us know.
Because we have never asked that question.
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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.
To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
In hindsight, I’m glad I got pushed into doing a PowerPoint presentation on the history of the churches in my community. But the process of taking pictures of those churches, today, made me realize how dead most of our churches are, outside of worship schedules. A few of you responded:
Tom Watson found an analogy: “Over recent years, every once in a while, service is reduced for trains running from Guelph to Toronto. The reason given is that there aren't sufficient numbers using the train to warrant continuance. Rather than trying to find ways to improve ridership they cut it completely.
“I have no information about the economics of what makes a run profitable, but I would think it's pretty clear that removing a run completely reduces the revenue to zero and there's no profit in that. Also, once riders make other accommodations it takes a lot to get them back.
“Seems to me it's the same with churches. If you're not open for business it's not long before you become part of the dead zone.”
And Isabel Gibson made a connection to our personal lives: “I'm not sure whether the church buildings you now find so quiet were ever teeming with activity -- worship, celebration, sacraments, education, outreach, service -- or whether they were mostly busy Sunday mornings. Nowadays (and for as long as I can remember) they sure look like underused real estate.
“It raises the interesting question of how well we use our personal assets -- the physical ones, like cars and houses, and the others, like our various gifts.”
Margaret Carr reflected on her own church: “We used to keep it open so people could come in and sit and commune with God or keep out of the cold in winter. But now because of vandalism we have had to lock it. Also there is the insurance to consider. We have had candles being lit and the birthday money we put into a small replica of our church on our birthdays taken, (although we once also had a bag of change left which we assumed was left as a donation) We even had a bottle of beer left on our usual seat one Sunday!
“Now we let people know they can ask for help by going next door to the manse. I think a church should be left open as a service to others but we just cannot take the chance of our beautiful old building being destroyed by vandals. If anyone has an answer to this problem I would like to know it.”
And James Russell focussed on the word “community,” “in part because actual communities seem to be what’s missing. I notice more and more that, as we have more and more, we have less connection with each other. In particular, we have fewer actual face-to-face meetings with other people, and especially with people on whom we have to rely or who have to rely on us directly to meet our and their needs.
“Is it that we have become too affluent, or simply that in becoming affluent we have separated ourselves physically into areas defined by levels of affluence rather than any other kind of affiliation? The rich on their islands, the poor in their deteriorating towers and flats. [quoting W.B. Yeats] “The centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....”
“And if the answer is to give up what economic security I’ve managed to gain in order to re-connect with other people, who will share the risk and how will I know they can be trusted? Is that what politics is about? [Or should be? JT]
I should add a word for those of you who also subscribe to Sharp Edges on Monday. You didn’t get a column last weekend because a tall mover’s truck ripped out my connections to the world – telephone, email, TV, internet…. But if you want to see what you missed, you can read Monday’s column, posted at http://quixotic.ca
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PSALM PARAPHRASES
When I was younger, I moved on to new adventures (new learnings, new settings, new technologies), while my elders remained behind. Now I watch younger colleagues move on to their new worlds (while I struggle with a remarkably non-intuitive cellphone!).
Anyway, here’s a paraphrase of Psalm 45:10-17.
10 The world is waiting for you, my friend.
Do not let yourself be held back by past loyalties;
you have grown bigger than our local puddle.
11 Important people will want to consult you.
International institutions will seek your advice.
Corporate clients will reward you richly for your wisdom.
12 Beware of the things that will tempt you.
13 The camp followers will cling to you;
with perfect teeth and plastic virtue they will try to seduce you.
14 They will flit around you like fireflies;
they will massage your ego.
15 You will become a literary lion, a familiar figure in the media;
studio staff will know you on a first-name basis.
16 Your followers will be an influential school;
17 You will be famous.
So….
Do not forget who you are.
For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalms from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.
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YOU SCRATCH MY BACK…
Ralph Milton most recent project, Sing Hallelujah -- the world’s first video hymnal -- consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.ca
Isabel Gibson's thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com
Wayne Irwin's "Churchweb Canada," an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>
Alva Wood's satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town are not particularly religious, but they are fun; write alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at twatson@sentex.net
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TECHNICAL STUFF
If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, jimt@quixotic.ca.
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My webpage is up and running again -- thanks to Wayne Irwin and ChurchWeb Canada. You can now access current columns and about five years of archives at http://quixotic.ca
I write a second column each Sunday called Sharp Edges, which tends to be somewhat more cutting about social and justice issues. To sign up for Sharp Edges, write to me directly, jimt@quixotic.ca, or send a note to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca
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