Today's edition of the Cybersalt Digest is a unique one, in recognition of the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.
Simply put, for 7 or 8 generations the government of Canada, with the assistance of a number of churches, attempted to erase First Nations culture by forcibly removing children from their families and homes and then placing them in residential schools around the country. All of these children suffered unimaginably because of being taken away from their homes. Many, many of them were brutalized and abused in all manner of ways.
While First Nations people have known for a long while that many of the children who never returned are buried in unmarked graves across Canada, non-native Canadians are just realizing that reality following the initial discovery of 215 unmarked graves in Kamloops, BC.
We are a country in the very early stages of coming to grips with and beginning to talk about the unspeakable truths of our longtime (which is also recent) genocidal history against the First Nations amongst whom we still live. We are doing this in order to find, and move along, a path to true reconciliation with them.
Shortly after the discovery of those 215 unmarked graves, I was humbled and honoured to take part in a conversation with two members of the Wiikwemkoong First Nation, and a member and a Chief of the Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation. My purpose in contacting them was to learn how I could be a better participant in the process of reconciliation and how Canadians can extinguish the systematic racism that still exists in our homes, our churches, our denominations and our institutions.
That conversation was recorded and the videos are now live, today's video share.
Click here to watch the first video.
The Cybersalt Digest will return to it's regular programming on Sunday.
~ Pastor Tim
Sunday greetings everyone!
Oh look, Chicken Thursday!
Sunday greetings everyone!
Oh look, Chicken Thursday!