1Grasp and ReleaseExodus 3:7-14; Philippians 2:1-11A couple of months ago some of us attended Saturday workshops at the Six Nations native reserve close to Brantford. As we entered in a small way into the story of First Nations people we felt that we wanted to take time on a Sunday morning to further reflect on the European encounter of the original inhabitants of our country. Thisrelationship was ultimately marked by European settlers taking possession this land andarguably of its people. The texts read this morning are important and relevant and wewill get to them but these texts reveal something godly, a possibility and a hope. Our story this morning, however, is just as much about Eve taking the apple, Jacob graspinghis brother’s heel, and David taking hold of Bathsheba. This is the story of our desire tosit in the place of God; to be in a place of possession and control.I should state from the beginning that the issue of control is not confined tocertain people or groups. One side of this issue is not all good and the other side is not all bad. The stories of individual people’s lives are varied and diverse. We must be carefulthat these stories are allowed to be told as honestly as possible even if that makes thingsmore complicated. This past Wednesday our Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologizedfor the government’s role in residential school system that attempted to educate andassimilate native people and often became the site of various abuses and injustices. It isno small thing for the government of a country to admit they were wrong. However, thismove cannot come at the cost of shaming and excluding the positive stories that also existfrom within the walls of residential schools. There should perhaps be a special grace for those who could work good within an unjust system. Also, when advocating andsupporting the First Nations community it can be tempting to romanticize their culture

2and practices. While there is much we can still learn from this culture the people thatmake up the culture are no better or worse than anyone else. I have heard too manystories from young native people telling me of the abuses of privileges within nativeleadership. Whenever we are dealing with people and relationship we can sure that thesituation will be complex and will not always stick to clear lines.What does continue to emerge in the history of Canada is a consistent attempt tocontrol or at least manage the First Nation’s population and to possess the land theyinhabited. This history is of course already seen in the unapologetic views foundChristopher Columbus’ own journal. When he first set foot on land the Spanish flag wasthrust into it. The land was marked. And what of the people? They were to becomeChristians, namely they were to become like the Europeans, but to be a little less thenthem. Columbus viewed them undoubtedly as servants and not as equal. The flag thatwas planted made this clear. The cross was in the middle of the flag with initial of theking and queen on either side. To live under the cross was also to live under the crown.The people and land of the Americas appeared to have been viewed from the beginningas objects of control and possession.In Canada it was in the second half of 19

century that crucial events anddecisions began shaping the relationship between the emerging government and the First Nations people. The situation at this time did require some sort of decision making. The buffalo, the main source of food for the native people, was hunted to near extinction andhunger spreading across the population. The railroad was stretched across the West bringing increasing contact with Europeans which also brought land disputes, epidemicsand alcohol. In the official documents the government did want to help this crisis

3situation but their response was not one of mutual aid. Rather, they acted to take controlof the land and the identity of the people. Treaties were drawn up that gave thegovernment control of the land and in return the native people were given small parcelsof land on which to live as well as some annual monetary support. In addition it was atthis time that policy was being formed with the purpose of assimilating the native peopleinto European culture. A native person could live as a native within the boundaries of thereserve or they were to become European in order to participate in the rest of the country.This gave rise to the way that the residential school system was used. Many of theseschools became sites of coercion and the manipulation of children forcing them fromtheir known culture into a new one. The expression was used many times on Wednesdayin the government’s apology saying that too often the intention of the residential schoolswas stated as trying to ‘kill the Indian in the child’.As I begin to learn my own place in this story I recognized how closely the eventsof my history coincide with these developments. In 1870 after defeating the provisionalgovernment established by the Métis leader Louis Riel the Dominion of Canada admittedManitoba as a province. It was in 1871 that Treaty number 1 was signed in which thegovernment took control of Manitoba and created various native reserves. And it was in1874 that my great-great grandparents arrived in Canada and settled on the newlyacquired land. One of the most unfortunate ironies of this is that in contrast to the native people who were beginning to be systematically assimilated in residential schools theMennonites of southern Manitoba were given special privileges which included the rightto run their own schools in their own language. As I reflected on these develops I beganto wonder if the government viewed the Mennonites as a group that they could trust to