For a few years, we offered a land acknowledgement before the beginning of our Meetings for Worship. Mostly they were not rote. Various Friends offered their personal interpretations of our relationship with Indigenous, Métis and Innu Peoples of the region.
It was particularly poignant that the winding St. Paul Street, on which we hold Meeting for Worship, was a well-trodden path of the Attawandaron going back in time, well before colonial settlement.
When we learned that Canadian Friends Service Committee had developed a set of queries regarding our need to make reparations for historical and ongoing crimes of government and settlers against Indigenous, Métis and Innu Peoples, we chose to use those queries in place of a statement of land acknowledgement. We find that they continue to stimulate our reflections and desire for ongoing learning and action.
- How am I learning about and building respectful relationships with Indigenous people in the communities in which I live, work, and/or worship? How am I building relationships of truth and understanding with non-Indigenous people in the communities in which I live, work, and/or worship?
- How can we increase our awareness of the local history of colonization and reconciliation efforts in our faith community?
- What protocols or practices do we honour in our Monthly Meeting and collective gatherings to recognize Indigenous lands, waters, lifeways, and rights? How do we ensure these do not become tokenistic or rote over time?
- In what ways can I stand in solidarity with the current concerns and rights of Indigenous peoples? What protocols and/or permissions may I need to seek in this process?
- How do I relate to concepts of ‘home’ and ‘belonging’ in the context of settler colonialism?
- Do my actions support Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty?
- Am I doing my own work in educating myself about reconciliation and decolonization? Am I aware of my own areas of ignorance, bias, and discomfort? Reconciliation is work that settlers must do, being careful not to put the burden of this work onto Indigenous peoples.
- How are we doing our own work to decolonize and honour the rights of Indigenous peoples as a faith community? How are we actively challenging the direct personal, structural, and cultural violence of settler colonialism where we encounter it? What does reconciliation require of us as Friends?