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Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity Talks.

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I'm so glad that you are here joining me today.

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And today I'm going to be sitting down with Rochelle, who is a member of our congregation

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here at Trinity.

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And we're just going to talk a little bit more about the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation,

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which is coming up on September the 30th.

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And we're just going to talk about what does this mean for us as individuals, as Canadians,

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and especially as a church family that is striving to live and love more like Jesus.

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And so Rochelle, welcome to the podcast.

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Thank you so much, Kyla.

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I'm very happy to be here.

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Yeah, we're happy to have you.

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So maybe Rochelle, could you just take a moment and introduce yourself?

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Tell us a little bit more about who you are and your background.

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For sure.

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So my name is Rochelle.

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I've been going to Trinity for a couple of years now.

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And a bit about my background.

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So I am mixed Anishinaabemowin, which is the traditional name for Ojikri or Severingkri.

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And so my mother is Ojikri and grew up on a reservation called Muscret Dam First Nation,

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which is in northern Ontario.

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And her family still lives up there.

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And so we visit when we can, but it's way, way up in the north.

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And my father is Swiss German.

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And so his family actually grew up in the Kitchener Waterloo area.

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They're settlers that came from Pennsylvania and before that over from northern Switzerland.

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So I'm a mix.

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And yeah, my parents, they have a really cool story about how the two of them met, but that's

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for another time.

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But I think what's relevant to say here is that they've really impacted my life and they've

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spent the last 30 years working alongside indigenous communities as counselors.

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And they work in areas of grief, addiction, trauma, abuse, and they've been walking alongside

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First Nations communities for a long time.

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And so seeing the work that they do and the partnership that they have has really impacted

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me.

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And I think it's really fostered this desire in me for justice and truth telling.

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And to also be someone who helps break down barriers and build bridges between non-indigenous

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people and indigenous people.

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Yeah, that's great.

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So as I said, September 30th is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

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And that day in particular is quite new in Canada.

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But of course, the history and the reasoning behind that day is much, much longer.

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It comes out of this long history of colonialism and discrimination and in particular, the

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history of residential schools.

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And we know that some Canadians, we're starting to hear about this a little bit more, starting

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to uncover some of those stories.

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But maybe it's not widely known, or maybe there are some folks listening who are just

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sort of hearing about this for the first time.

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And so I'm wondering if you can just tell us a little bit more about why we have this

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National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and why it's important for us to observe it.

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Absolutely.

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Yeah, so you're right.

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September 30th, 2021 was the very first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which was

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a really significant day for all indigenous people in Canada.

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Because it was Canada taking a national stand to say we honour and we support the First

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Nations, Métis and Inuit children who never returned home from residential schools, as

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well as the survivors of those that went to residential schools and their affected communities

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and their families.

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So to speak to the residential school system a little bit, it was implemented by the federal

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government and run by various church denomination groups.

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And they basically took young children from the ages four to six, and they were taken

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forcibly from their homes, separated from their parents, their sibling, their cultures,

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their community.

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And it was all in an attempt to assimilate them into civilized culture.

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And the scope of this is, I think, important to understand that there were over 130 residential

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schools that ran in Canada between the years of 1831 and 1996.

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So not that long ago, the last school closed and an estimated 150,000 children were sent

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to these schools.

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And another thing I think that is really important for people to note who are just beginning

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to learn this, that the survivors of these schools are still, many of them are still

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alive and they're elders in our communities.

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And many of these elders are my relatives.

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I have aunts and uncles and family members who were taken to residential school as young

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children.

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And you asked why is it so important for Canadians to observe.

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And I think as Canadians, our truth lies in knowing our history and the impacts that it's

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had on the people who live here.

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And if we're to be in good relationship with one another, I think it's really important

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that we know the story of this land and the people that we share it with.

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And then I'll just speak to a bit about the origins of the National Day for Truth and

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Reconciliation and how that all began.

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And it was because one survivor told her story of surviving residential school and this woman's

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name is Phyllis Webstad.

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So she's still alive today, but at six years old, Phyllis was taken to residential school.

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And when she got there, she was wearing an orange shirt and it was customary that when

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you were sent to residential school, they took all of your personal belongings, they

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stripped you of all your cultural elements and belongings.

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And so she showed up to school and they took her orange shirt and this first act of having

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this precious item taken from her really scarred her.

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And then of course, her whole experience at residential school was very, very challenging.

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They were not great places.

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And so for a long time into her adulthood, she couldn't wear orange.

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And so for the very first time, Phyllis told her story in 2013.

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And from there on out, people started to wear orange on September 30th to honor Phyllis's

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story, but also all the other children who didn't survive and then the survivors who

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did come out of it.

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And so it's honestly a very impactful action.

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It's very small.

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It's a small gesture, but the message is so loud and clear.

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I know for myself, whenever I see people wearing orange on September 30th, it actually is quite

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emotional because it's people saying, hey, we care.

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We know this story and we care and we know that this has happened in our country.

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And so it's a really small gesture with big impact.

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Yeah, for sure.

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And so you shared a bit about the history of residential schools and how that was something

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that was sort of instituted by the Canadian government, but it was also something that

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was often done in partnership with churches and denominations, including the Anglican

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Church of Canada, who was involved in running some of these residential schools.

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So back in 1993, the Anglican Church of Canada actually issued an official apology for their

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role in the residential school system in Canada.

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And if any of the listeners are interested in reading that apology or learning more about

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it, there'll be a link in the description of the video where you can go and see that.

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But so that happened back in 1993, which is a bit recent, but it can feel far away.

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And so I guess what would you say if there are folks who are saying, well, this happened

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in the past.

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This happened.

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It's not happening now.

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So why does it still matter?

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Why is this something we still need to talk about?

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And perhaps in particular, why is this something that still matters for us as followers of

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Christ?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I think I can start by maybe summarizing some of what colonization has done and why that

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still is relevant today, specifically as a direct result of the doctrine of discovery,

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which is a legal and religious concept that was actually used for centuries to justify

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Christian colonial conquest.

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It advanced this idea that European peoples and their culture and their religion were

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all superior to others.

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And it provided religious authority for Christians' empires to invade and subjugate non-Christian

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lands.

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It also allowed them to impose Christianity on these populations and claim their resources.

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So in the Canadian context, this led to things like the seizure of indigenous lands, the

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displacement of indigenous peoples from their traditional lands, which is where they called

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home.

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And it disrupted the entire way of life and culture.

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And it was led by Christians, by people who claimed God's name over their actions.

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And so I say all this because I think it's important that as Christians, we understand

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the weight that this carries for indigenous people today.

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And it still has very real impacts, even though it feels like this really long ago thing that

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happened, it's still affecting indigenous people today.

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And so I think as Christians, we also need to let that help us understand the divide

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that that creates for indigenous people and Christianity.

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And I think if we don't have that understanding, it really prevents us from moving towards

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healing and harmony.

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Again as Christians, we know that the foundation of our truth rests in who God says He is,

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who He says we are, and how we can follow His way.

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And we see in Exodus that God says this about Himself.

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Then the Lord called out His own name, Yahweh the Lord, the God of compassion and mercy.

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I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

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I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations.

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I forgive iniquity, rebellion and sin, but I do not excuse the guilty.

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And so as image bearers of God were called to be these things, compassionate, merciful,

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slow to anger, filled with empathy and love, faithfulness, forgiving, but also not without

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conviction.

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And so to summarize, I truly believe that this means that we need to care about the

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impact that Christianity has had on indigenous people so that we can pursue this ongoing

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journey of reconciliation.

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Yeah, for sure.

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Yeah, I think that point that you made there about God's compassion, but also the conviction,

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I think is something that's really important, right?

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That we continue to walk with compassion, but that we don't let that compassion mean

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that we do nothing.

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Exactly.

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And I think too, like looking at the life of Jesus, He was someone who was constantly

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seeking justice and doing the hard thing and speaking out when there was something not

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right.

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And so we see that over and over again in scripture, right?

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And Jesus was just, He was not apathetic to matters of injustice.

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And so I think as Christians, that needs to be a high calling of ours.

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Yeah, for sure.

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I'm wondering, because you have some experience working with indigenous communities, if you've

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seen any examples of churches or Christian groups that have sort of walked in this way

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really well, if you have any examples or stories to share.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I think just being almost a fly on the wall with what my parents have been doing for my

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whole life really, I've seen not only my dad being a settler, I've seen his consistent

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commitment to walking with, befriending, learning, listening, and entering into communities,

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specifically my mom's community and being part of what's going on there and saying,

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Hey, I don't have the answers.

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It's not what I'm here to do.

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I'm here to help and to walk alongside.

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What can you teach me?

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And then because they're in mission work, they have churches and groups that support

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them.

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And so through that, I've also been able to witness different church groups partner with

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communities.

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They come in and they run like a week long camp.

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And I've also seen other community, sorry, other groups come in and do like sports week

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or like, you know, so there's been Christian groups.

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Christian groups that come in and then also non-Christian groups that have come in and

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just say, Hey, like we want to partner.

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We want to walk alongside.

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How can we help you?

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So yeah, I've seen groups like that go in and then there's nonprofits that partner with

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communities to just bring practical resources and practical help because a lot of reserves

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are quite isolated.

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So they don't have the same access to everything that we have.

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So yeah, I've been able to witness a lot of cool partnerships over the years.

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Yeah, that's great.

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And so as we think about now, perhaps for some folks listening, this is a lot of new

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information.

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Maybe for other folks, this is things that they've heard before, but they don't necessarily

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know, okay, what's our next step?

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So I'm wondering, what would you recommend?

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Yeah, I think if you're just starting this journey, it can feel really overwhelming to

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be like, I don't know what book to read or I don't even know what to do.

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Because as soon as you Google, you know, there's lots of resources for books and movies and

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all that stuff.

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But to kind of narrow it down a little bit, I think specifically around the National Day

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for Truth and Reconciliation, it has its own organization and it's called Orange Shirt

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Day.

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Sorry, their website is orangeshirtday.org.

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So you can go there and they really truly have like lots of resources for people to

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click on videos.

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And that specifically really looks at understanding the effect of residential schools.

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So if you want to feel a little more prepared heading into the National Day for Truth and

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Reconciliation, I would definitely check out their website.

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You can also look at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, which is online.

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That is a bit more like intense.

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But if you just want to like familiarize yourself with that, you can absolutely check that out.

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In terms of books, again, there's so many books, so it can feel really overwhelming.

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But one that I always recommend people is 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian

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Act by Bob Joseph.

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And it's not a huge book and it goes through 21 things that you didn't know.

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And I came along this book when I was in my adulthood and really just learning for myself

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all this stuff.

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And it was really eye opening because you really get an inside look to just how profoundly

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the Indian Act affected indigenous people in Canada.

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And a lot of people don't know about it.

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And it still exists today.

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There's laws and regulations that it lays out for indigenous people in Canada.

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So that I would recommend.

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There's some novels, Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga, which is a true story.

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And it follows the lives of seven young indigenous teens who died over their 11 years and they

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were attending school in Thunder Bay.

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And so that gives a really, really sad insight into more of the current state of the challenges

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that young indigenous people have right now in Canada of leaving their home to go to school.

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And then you can read the 94 Calls to Action, which sounds really daunting, but some of

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them are one-liners, some of them are a few sentences.

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And then you can kind of get on track with where Canada is promising it's going and how

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it's on this journey.

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I have like some movie suggestions.

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Is that helpful?

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I know people are on Netflix for love documentary on Netflix.

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That more focuses on indigenous people sharing their stories about the child welfare system.

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So that will give like a little bit of insight.

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We Were Children on Amazon Prime.

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Indian Horse is a book and also a movie.

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Jordan River Anderson, there's something in the water.

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If you're more into documentaries, you could Google documentaries and there's like lots

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of options.

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So yeah.

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Yeah, no, that's a really great point.

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Yeah, for sure.

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And we'll make sure to include that list and some of the links and stuff in the description

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of the podcast as well so folks can sort of follow along.

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And I would say, so you mentioned the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, like their

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reports and then also the TRC 94 Calls to Action.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So I would agree with you that the report itself is quite daunting.

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It's a lot of reading.

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But if folks are looking for some really sort of specific like, okay, what does this mean?

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Like what are indigenous folks actually asking us to do?

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I would definitely recommend sort of starting with those 94 Calls to Action.

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Agreed.

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And they're super helpfully also broken down into things for schools, things for churches,

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things for government.

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Yeah.

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And so even just looking at what can we as a faith community, what can we as a church

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sort of be doing for this?

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That's right.

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Yeah.

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That's really great.

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Yeah.

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And I think as a faith community, again, for anyone who's new to this, it is definitely

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overwhelming.

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And there's a lot to take in.

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So I would say start small.

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And I think even this like having this lead to maybe another conversation.

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And I think I really believe the more we learn about each other and the more we learn about

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people who are not like us or have lived a different experience, the better we can be.

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And I really believe that most often that leads to empathy and understanding.

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And I really hope for anyone who is just starting this journey or who's on this journey that

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you can start with those two things, empathy and understanding, because that will truly

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pave the way for healing and reconciliation.

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Without those two things, there can be a lot of just anger and hurt.

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And that's not a good place to start.

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Sure.

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Yeah.

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No, I think that's an excellent place to end.

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Empathy and understanding.

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Yeah.

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So thank you so much, Rochelle.

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Thank you for sharing your story and your wisdom with us.

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Yeah.

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And I hope that folks have found this to be a helpful place to sort of start and to engage.

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And yeah, I look forward to hearing from you about what are some of the things that you're

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learning?

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What are some of the ways that you are engaging with this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation?

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So thank you for joining us for this episode of Trinity Talks.

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And we'll see you again next week.