START began in the fall of 2020 when a small group of people gathered to consider our congregation’s response to racism. We quickly decided to focus on reconciliation with Indigenous people over their grossly unjust treatment since the establishment of Canada in 1867, actions and attitudes concerning Indigenous people which reflected the assumed moral and cultural superiority of our Victorian founders. There is a wealth of information on this topic and we learned about the Doctrine of Discovery and the racism enshrined in The Indian Act. The Doctrine of Discovery, based on several Papal declarations that non-Christians are to be denied the right to claim the lands they occupied as legitimately theirs, authorized Christian European monarchies to occupy and claim sovereignty over the lands and people they “discovered.”

“The Indian Act is the primary law the federal government uses to administer Indian status, local First Nations governments and the management of reserve land. First introduced in 1876, the Act subsumed a number of colonial laws that aimed to eliminate First Nations culture in favour of assimilation into Euro-Canadian society. The Act has been amended several times, most significantly in 1951 and 1985, with changes mainly focusing on the removal of discriminatory sections. It is an evolving, paradoxical document that has enabled trauma, human rights violations and social and cultural disruption for generations of Indigenous peoples.” (The Canadian Encyclopedia.)

The government of Canada used powers granted under the Indian Act to establish Indian Residential Schools.

We are a group that continues to learn more and more about the history of colonization in Canada and what this means for Indigenous Peoples. We also strive to offer learning opportunities to the congregation each year, whether in the form of workshops, events, or worship services. If you’re interested in learning more about this group or being a part of START, please reach out to the Office for more information. And take a look at our social media for upcoming reconciliation-related events and offerings!

Image: The Two Row Wampum is one of the oldest treaty relationships between the Onkwehonweh (original people) of Turtle Island (North America) and European immigrants. The treaty was made in 1613 between the Dutch and the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) as Dutch traders and settlers moved up the Hudson River into Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) territory. The wampum belt symbolizes two paths or two vessels, travelling down the same river together. One, a birchbark canoe, will be for the Indian People, their laws, their customs, and their ways. The other, a ship, will be for the white people and their laws, their customs, and their ways. We shall each travel the river together, side by side, but in our own boat. Neither of us will make compulsory laws nor interfere in the internal affairs of the other. Neither of us will try to steer the other’s vessel.