Power and the Church (Our Home???)

 O Canada, our home and native land –

True patriot love in all our sons’ command.

The aboriginal version of this is “O Canada, our home ON native land…..did you know that?

Canada - a country we like to think of as free, founded on solid Christian principles. There is no question Canada is a beautiful country, but our history is far from a good one, and our nostalgia somewhat misplaced. While many of our rights and freedoms were founded on principles which came from European Christians, they were not available for everyone. True, some of us just were not aware, at the time; but that is no longer and excuse, really……

Canada’s earlier days were built on the backs of aboriginal peoples, who in the beginning were generous and open. Without them there would have been few survivors in this harsh land. Then, while we were forcing aboriginal children to go to ‘schools’ away from their homes and families, we were also building an infrastructure on the backs of Chinese who came here to work the railway, hoping to save enough money to bring family, and have a better life. To get in to Canada they were required to pay a head tax of some $900 – not a lot these days, but in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, that was a huge amount of money. More Chinese died in the building of our railroads than any other nationality – and yet, they persisted.

In 1949 Newfoundland became part of Canada – not voluntarily. Did you know that? Newfoundland was coerced into WWII, because of its strategic importance. After the war was over, the Canadian and British governments reneged on their promises to return Newfoundland to its status as an independent republic. When the Methodist Conference of Newfoundland joined The United Church in Canada in 1925, Newfoundland was not part of Canada. The Wesleyan Methodist Synod of Bermuda joined in 1930 as part of the Maritime Conference.

I was born in southern Saskatchewan, to a United Church minister and his wife – Dad from Hamilton, Mom from Toronto. Saskatchewan was still in the pioneer stage, and life was hard. In the south during wartime – Canora and Assiniboia – were Canadian women and children of Japanese descent, separated forcibly from their husbands, and sent to work the sugar beet fields, while the husbands went off to work in BC lumber camps. The Government of Canada confiscated everything they had, and it was not until 1988 that reparations of any kind were made. Many of those people had already died without hearing even an apology from the government.

There was no free medical care for most where I grew up – In Prince Albert, the family doctor, who became known as Mr. Medicare, gave us his services. Our dentist provided free services. Yet across the river there was a residential school for aboriginal children – and they were lucky to receive medical care at all.

This past week we celebrated the 147^th birthday of this country – and we need to loo with clear eyes at how we got here. I want to draw a parallel with a popular book and movie.

The Golden Compass, part of a trilogy of stories by author Philip Pullman, follows the young protagonist, Lyra Belacqua through her world in an effort to find and save her friends Bill and Roger. In Lyra’s universe, there are witches and armoured polar bears; yet, like our world, there is also a broad range of studies involving particle physics, philosophy, theology and spirituality.

In Lyra’s world, people’s souls are external to their body, an animal-shaped "dæmon" that always stays near its human counterpart. During childhood, a dæmon can change its shape at will, but with the onset of adolescence it settles into a single form which reveals the person's true nature and personality, implying that nature and personality stabilise after adolescence.

The Magisterium is the equivalent of the religious leaders of the church in this parallel world. The Magisterium exerts a strong control over this world, and wishes to control everything. Their greatest fear is people who do not accept the dogma and doctrine, and think outside the box.

Under the direction of the Magisterium, a group known as the Oblation Board  kidnaps children and subjects them to a process called “intercision”, whereby the daemon and the human are literally separated by a laser guillotine. This renders the human unable to think independently, and removes their ability to care. The same is true for the daemon soul.

The kidnapped children are sent to an “experimental station”, far north on the island of Svalbard, where they are in a boarding school where experiments can be conducted on them without their parents around. Those who try to run away are caught and punished, often killed. Most of the children kidnapped come from a nomadic group of sea people called Gyptians, or the poorer peoples who are indigenous to the land. Children of wealthy or educated people do not get taken, and don’t have their daemons removed.

Now - it’s important to note that the word daemons in this case is quite different than our word “demon”. The words daemon is a Latin spelling of the Greek used to distinguish the daemons of Hellenistic religion and philosophy, good or malevolent "supernatural beings”, between mortals and gods, from the Judeo‑Christian usage demon. In his writing “Theogony”, the poet Hesiod relates how the men of the Golden Age were transmuted into daemons by the will of Zeus, to serve as ineffable guardians of mortals. Their function is that of the soul.

In the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the Canadian government’s approach to the “Indian problem” was forced assimilation and extinguishment of rights and claims. If the ‘Indians’ learned English, and adopted Christianity, then they would pass their adopted lifestyle on to their children, hence abolishing any native traditions within a few generations.

This policy was known as "aggressive assimilation". The government of Canada provided the funding, and the churches managed what were first called industrial schools, and later residential schools. Children were easier to mould than adults, so the laws allowed for children of aboriginal peoples to be forcibly removed from their families, taken to the schools where they were required to speak English, not allowed to speak their native tongue, and forced to accept the Christian God. Many were beaten and punished if they spoke their own language. Sexual abuse of the children was rampant. Those who tried to run away were either caught and punished, or died in the wilderness around the school. Many committed suicide.

Residential schools were federally run, under the Department of Indian Affairs, but through the churches – mostly Catholic, Anglican and United Church. Attendance was mandatory. Agents were employed by the government to ensure all native children attended. Students of most of the schools lived in substandard conditions. All correspondence was written in English, which many parents couldn't read. Brothers and sisters at the same school rarely saw each other, as all activities were segregated by gender.

At first there were about 69 schools operating, but by 1931, at the peak of the residential school system, there were about 80 schools operating in Canada. All together, 130 schools operated in every territory and province except Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick from the earliest in the 19^th century to the last, which closed in Prince Albert in 1996. Approximately 150,000 aboriginal, Inuit and Métis children were removed from their communities, separated from family and their own way of life, and forced to attend the schools.

In 1994, I had the privilege of sitting for a day listening to aboriginal survivors of the residential schools. No one in that room left the same person. I heard more than one person say their soul had been ripped out of them. There were tears of pain in remembering – on the part of those who spoke – and tears of pain for their agony, on the part of those of us who heard. I heard no anger on their part – just complete bewilderment that people could be treated in such a fashion, using the cover of Christianity. I heard grief for the soul they had lost.

In Lyra’s parallel universe, the Magisterium covers up its lust for power and control by claiming that what they are doing is for the good of those children they kidnap. - just a little cut, and then the children would be sent home. In reality, once the children are taken, they never return home. Life is literally never the same, for their souls have been taken from them. The Magisterium practices a patronising and patriarchal system of religious teaching which removes any question of their authority.

Here in the real world of Canada, both the government and the churches practiced a patronising and patriarchal system of assimilation. There was a common, and quite racist belief, that aboriginal peoples were somehow “less” than white people were. Perhaps there was a belief that by becoming Christian, and learning western ways, aboriginal peoples “put on new clothes” and became new people. I am being extremely generous here. For I believe that while they may have said the words “in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek”, it was not a real commitment of faith. Galatians says clearly that everyone is equal in the sight of God, yet even today we can see that aboriginal peoples are still not seen or treated as equal, either in the eyes of the church or the eyes of the various governments. Extinguishment of aboriginal rights and claims is very much still an item on the agenda. The fact remains that those aboriginal children and families were ripped apart in the name of the Christian God. – and I note that although hundreds of Chinese came to Canada in this period - and there is no doubt they were badly treated - they were not required to give up their language, religion or families. No other ethnic group has been treated with such incredible disregard as the aboriginal peoples of Canada.

The words of Jesus are important to remember. He is more than scathing of the religious leaders. Jesus says “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. Don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. Don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be a servant. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.”

Two worlds, where children are taken and abused - where families of those who are deemed “lesser” are abused. Where a policy of extinguishment extends to particular cultures. Two worlds where religious leaders are more interested in control of thought and action, and delude themselves that they have the way to bring others into the realm of God. In their need to exert power, and control, in fact they deny others the opportunity to go there.

So we have concluded the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Winnipeg. It is not an end, and it will not solve everything. Native peoples are already saying that apologies are a step, this commission is another step, but they are also looking for justice to be done. As we continue to celebrate this country, being a true Canadian means justice is done for all, not just for some. Then we will be the true north, strong and free.

1. Pullman, Philip. His Dark Materials: Book 1 The Golden Compass. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 2002.

2. Canadian Indian Residential School System, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_Residential_school_system

3. Residential Schools: The Background 1899 and after

www.albertasource.ca/treaty8/eng/1899_and_After/implications

4. Residential School: Canadian Shame

www.shannonthunderbird.com/residential_schools.htm

5. Time Magazine article

6.Galatians 3:26-29;

For you are all children of God through faith in Jesus. All who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Jesus. And now that you belong to Jesus, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

Matthew 22:35 – 36; 23:1-13

“Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. Don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. Don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be a servant. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.”