Wednesday’s Sharing Circle at the TRC (see earlier blog) also invited a former teacher to give voice to her difficult experience in a school in Saskatchewan. She arrived as a new, young teacher eager and ready for her vocation. Then she saw the dreadful basement room in which she and her students were expected to spend their days.

Bearing witness to truth is a first step toward healing and reconciliation. Facing one another as we speak truth holds the promise that we might truly listen to the depth of our own truth and the depth of others’ truth, that we might hear the cry of our own souls and the cry of others’ souls.

As mentioned in my earlier blog, yesterday I was given the honour of speaking on behalf of The United Church of Canada at the Opening Session of the first national gathering of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, along with TRC Commissioners and other leaders (Aboriginal, government, and church leaders). I began by making clear that I spoke not only for our church as Moderator but also for myself.

Day one of this first national gathering of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission began at 5:19 a.m. yesterday with the lighting of the Sacred Fire at sunrise here at The Forks in Winnipeg.

This morning I head to Montreal for a weekend of helping United Theological College mark the completion of its Designated Lay Ministry Residential program. Another poignant few days in a week marked by countless and varied 85th anniversary celebrations for The United Church of Canada.

I have never been proud to be a Native American. Another thread on this forum triggered this realization. I have pale skin compared to my brothers & sisters. My mother is full Plains Cree and my dad is part German and Cherokee. At a young age I learned to hate myself and everything my nationality represented. I was well on my way to being assimilated, having no knowledge of my mother tongue, not having an Indian name as a child and complete ignorance of my traditions as a Cree.

In present day society, should we still let old treaties apply to Native Canadians? A promise was made, but with the present condition many Native Canadians appear to be in, should they still be granted differant rights and responcibilities?