Canadian cumenical group rolls out guidelines to address spiritual harm done to Indigenous peoples

[Anglican Church of Canada] A document aiming to heal the legacy of spiritual harm churches committed against Indigenous peoples, written by an ecumenical working group and presented to Sacred Circle Aug. 8, makes a set of “calls to healing” to churches — including implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Members of the group, representing churches affiliated with ecumenical advocacy group KAIROS Canada—of which the Anglican Church of Canada is a member — presented their paper, “Addressing Spiritual Violence Against Indigenous Peoples in Canada: Ethical Guidelines and Calls to Healing,” during a panel at the 12th Indigenous Anglican Sacred Circle.

The panel included four of the paper’s six authors: Archdeacon Rosalyn Elm, the Anglican Church of Canada’s Indigenous ministries coordinator; Lori Ransom, the United Church of Canada’s reconciliation and Indigenous justice animator; and theologians Christina Conroy and Christine Jamieson, who respectively teach at Ambrose and Concordia universities.

Ransom, an ordained elder of the Presbyterian Church in Canada and member of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation, called the paper “a milestone on the road of an ecumenical collaborative project that has been taking place for eight years,” with three of those years spent writing the document.

Addressing Spiritual Violence, she said, was the response to a 2016 call from the Rt. Rev. Stan McKay, former moderator of the United Church of Canada and the first Indigenous leader of a mainline Protestant denomination in Canada, for churches to address “the legacy of mission” and specifically their attacks on Indigenous spiritual beliefs and practices.

Ransom also referred to Call to Action 60 from the Truth of Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which asks churches to mitigate the legacy of religious conflict among Indigenous peoples and to prevent spiritual violence.

The commission defined spiritual violence as occurring when a person is not allowed to follow their preferred spiritual or religious tradition; when a different spiritual or religious path or practice is forced on them; when their spiritual or religious traditions, beliefs or practices are demeaned or belittled; or when a person is made to feel ashamed for practicing their traditional or family beliefs.

Effects of spiritual violence, Ransom said, were “profound — not only in the residential institutions or so-called schools; it’s been ongoing.” She added, “It’s been part and parcel of Christian ministry and mission and it’s still occurring.”

Without formal recognition of Indigenous spirituality as a valid form of worship, she said, “a full and robust reconciliation would be impossible.” Ransom credited the Anglican Church of Canada with being the first church to offer a “fulsome and robust apology” for spiritual harm inflicted on Indigenous peoples in 2019, when then-primate Fred Hiltz apologized on behalf of the national church.

The authors of Addressing Spiritual Violence created their paper through dialogue across denominations with elders and Indigenous ministry leaders.

They garnered feedback on initial drafts from McKay; the Rev. Ray Aldred, director of Indigenous studies at the Vancouver School of Theology; and the Rt. Rev. Carmen Lansdowne, current moderator of the United Church of Canada and the first Indigenous woman to lead a Christian denomination in Canada. Indigenous church leaders the Rev. Margaret Mullin, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church in Canada; Adrian Jacobs, senior leader for Indigenous justice and reconciliation at the Christian Reformed Church in North America; and the Rev. Murray Pruden, director of Indigenous programs at KAIROS Canada, provided comments on later drafts.

Addressing Spiritual Violence reviews the spiritual significance of land and water to Indigenous peoples, healing from consequences of spiritual harm, the impact of denominationalism on Indigenous communities and the importance of pastoral care for Indigenous church members. It explores mission in the 21st century, providing support for Indigenous clergy and faith communities, what Indigenous self-determination in spiritual matters looks like within churches and well-being of Indigenous youth.

Eight ethical guidelines for healing

Central to Addressing Spiritual Violence are its eight ethical guidelines with related calls to healing, which encourage churches to act in specific ways.

The authors call on churches to implement the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to acknowledge sovereignty of Indigenous peoples over their spiritual lives. They urge churches to accept that issues related to land are part of the ongoing legacy of spiritual violence and to act to correct distortions of the Gospel that lead to spiritual harm.

Diversity of religious truths across denominations, the authors say, should never be used to justify notions of spiritual superiority: “Christian witnessing should be rooted in our behavior, not in a competition of beliefs.” Churches should trust Indigenous autonomy and agency, guard against assumptions about what Indigenous people need, and amplify the vision, efforts and leadership of Indigenous communities.

Churches should also emphasize support for the pastoral care of their Indigenous members to recover from spiritual violence, the authors add. They should “repent and atone for systemic discrimination of Indigenous ministries and support Indigenous ministry leadership, governance, and growth of their ministries among Indigenous peoples.”

The authors call for churches to “develop a renewed theology of baptism and a renewed sense of what it means to be in a spiritual kinship relationship through baptism”; to support the role of elders and knowledge keepers; and to incorporate the voices of children and youth in Indigenous ministries.

Authors seek validation from Indigenous people

Addressing Spiritual Violence invites Christian denominations and institutions in Canada to study and reflect on the ethical guidelines and provide further feedback.

“We need people to now walk with us in this journey to read what we’ve done to validate it,” Ransom told Sacred Circle. “We need Indigenous people to validate it. But we still are really hoping that it will be taken seriously by the highest leadership of denominations in terms of what they need to do to support us as people in Indigenous ministry in Canada.”

Jamieson, a member of the Boothroyd First Nation in British Columbia, added, “We actually want this document to end up in the hands of every church in Canada — not because it’s the only thing that has to be said about spiritual violence, but it is a way to begin a conversation.”

During a subsequent period for comments and questions, the Rev. Norman Meade thanked the panel for their presentation. “I really appreciate it, enjoyed it,” he said. But he added that one word had been conspicuously absent from the presentation: genocide.

As an 81-year-old elder, Meade said, “I ask us this question: How are we going to heal our nations from the position that we’re in one of genocide? How are we going to heal from that and who is going to help us heal from that?”

Elm thanked Meade for his comment and said the authors had discussed the concept of “legislative genocide,” i.e. that Canadian law allowed genocide. Addressing Spiritual Violence does not specifically mention legislative genocide but notes that acknowledging harm caused by spiritual violence “includes acknowledging church complicity in cultural genocide.”

The Truth of Reconciliation Commission in its final report determined that through the residential school system, Canada committed cultural genocide against Indigenous people, which it defined as “the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group.” It continued, “States that engage in cultural genocide set out to destroy the political and social institutions of the targeted group.”