Canadian Indigenous

Spirituality
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF CANADA
Indigenous Spirituality

– Learning Goal: I need to understand and identify the

Indigenous peoples of Canada, including their great diversity
and resilience
Indigenous Peoples in North
America
We are the people of TURTLE ISLAND
– Archaeologists in the past 6 years have discovered signs that
Indigenous people have been on Turtle Island (North
America) since 60,000 BCE. They developed full
characteristics of ADVANCED CIVILIZATIONS
– Rice fields are 7000 years old. Lake Michigan was dry 20,000
years ago and archaeologists have found signs of
“Stonehenge”-like boulder systems and caribou runs.
 Who are Canadian Indigenous
peoples?

INDIGENOUS Reflect
101

Watch:
HOW TO TALK ABOUT IN
DIGENOUS PEOPLES
?
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF CANADA Who we are…
First Nations Living in Ontario:
Identities for Thousands of
Years

Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)
Anishnawbek Nation: includes
Confederacy: includes the
Ojibway, Potawatomi,
Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga,
Mississauga, Odawa,
Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora
Delaware, Chippewa and
(also known as the Six Nations
Algonquin
Confederacy)

Cree and Oji-Cree Huron, Wendat, Wyandotte

Historic Makers of the
Indigenous Peoples

– An advanced government
system has been traced back to
400 years ago. The Great Law
of Peace is the longest living
constitution in the world.
FIRST TREATY
KASWENT: THE
TWO ROW
“We will not be like father and son, but like brothers. These TWO ROWS will
WAMPUM- symbolize vessels, traveling down the same river together.”
a symbol of peace and
equality made between
Indigenous Peoples of
Canada and European One row will be for the Original People, their laws, their customs, and the other
for the European people and their laws and customs. We will each travel the river
Colonizers together, but each in our own boat. And neither of us will try to steer the other’s
vessel.
KASWENT: THE TWO ROW WAMPUM-
This was sealed in the 1613 Agreement between the Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the
Ashwabiaga (Tyandaga word for non-aboriginals).

The 3 white lines of the Two –Row Wampum stand for:

– TRUST
– FRIENDSHIP
– MUTUAL RESPECT
The 2 blue lines stand for :
– Aboriginals
– Non-aboriginals
At first the non-Indigenous fished the Atlantic and went back to Europe.
For the first 100 years, there were no permanent settlements by the Europeans so the Two-Row Wampum agreement worked.
However, when Beaver Pelts became the symbol of status and wealth in Europe, the relationship changed.
EARLY
SETTLEMENT

Map of North America in 1750,

before the French and Indian War,
the North American theater of the
worldwide conflict known as
the Seven Years' War (1756 to
1763). – possessions of Britain
(pink and purple), France (blue),
and Spain (orange) –
 – Contact between Europeans and Indigenous peoples had a
range of impacts.
– Indigenous peoples helped early Europeans by teaching them
survival skills.

What were – Many Europeans considered their own ways “civilized” and
Indigenous ways “uncivilized.”

some of the – Indigenous peoples were expected to give up their ways.

– Reserves were created and land was set aside for specific First

impacts
Nations peoples to use.
– In 1857, the Gradual Civilization Act was passed to assimilate
Indigenous peoples into European culture.

European – In 1876, the Indian Act allowed the federal government to set
up residential schools for Indigenous children, which were run
by Anglican, United, Presbyterian, and Catholic churches.
contact? – In 1885, the potlatch ceremony was banned.
– In 1895, all Indigenous ceremonies, dances, and festivals were
banned.
 – By the end of the 17th Century the peaceful relationship
between Canada’s Indigenous peoples and the government
THE UNTOLD was no longer reciprocal in nature. The government was
involved with systemic racism and wrongly believed that
HISTORY OF Indigenous people were a problem where they
THE systematically enacted legislation that led to the
GENOCIDE OF destruction and/assimilation of a culture. It is a history of
purposeful genocide.
INDIGENOUS
– The term “Final Solution” was not coined by the Nazis, but
PEOPLES IN by Indian Affairs Superintendent Duncan Campbell Scott in
CANADA April of 1910 when he referred to how he envisioned the
“Indian Problem” in Canada being resolved.
– It is Canada’s Legislative history that has led to the current
state of Indigenous peoples of Canada today.
 – Review the following resources:
– 5000 years in 2 mins
– 21 things you need to know about the Indian Act
– Canada, I can cite for you 150
– The Hudson's Bay blanket
– Watch the full 8th Fire Episode 1 (43 mins)

PONDER ON THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

– What are some things you already know about
MINDS ON: residential schools?
– Do know how residentials schools affected the
Indigenous culture?
Colonization – Do you know what the word is used to describe this
impact?
– Do you know what happened to all the buffalo?
– How has that affected the Indigenous culture?
– In 1876 the Indian Act was created – what was the main
outcome and purpose of this? Watch:
The Indian Act Explained
 ASSIMILATION

“The happiest future for the Indian race is absorption into the general
population, and this is the policy of our government…The great forces of
intermarriage and education will finally overcome the lingering traces of native
custom and tradition.”
Duncan Campbell Scott, 1914
INDIAN RESIDENTIAL
SCHOOLS
“I want to get rid of the Indian problem. Our objective is to
continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has
not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian
question, and no Indian Department, that is the whole object
of this Bill.”
~Duncan Campbell Scott, 1920
 Canada’s Residential
Schools
Describe the residential schools of Canada?
– Indigenous children were taken away from their families and were put into
residential schools
– The schools were designed to “kill the Indian” in the child and make them a
“good Christian” child, and to teach them important life skills. They were not
allowed to speak their first language
– Approximately 150,000 First Nations, Inuit's and Metis people attended these
schools where there was low quality food and clothing, and where they were
abused, suffered, and many died.
– 3000+ children died while in these schools, and often the parents never knew
what happened to them
– Review any of the following resources to learn more about the residential
schools:
– Where are the Children? - Once inside, click on the arrow “exhibition”
– Garnet’s Journey – listen and learn from the lived experience of a residential school survivor (21
mins)
– THE SECRET PATH is a documentary by Gord Downie describing a young boys attempt to run away
from a residential school but failed to make it home. (2hrs - option to watch clip)
THE LEGACY OF COLONIALISM,
GENOCIDE, AND ASSIMILATION

1 2 3 4 5 6

Alcoholism and Family breakdown Low self-esteem Unresolved grief Family violence – Increased rate of
substance abuse and dysfunction and poor self- and anger physical, mental, suicide
(the residential image emotional,
school generations spiritual, social
did not learn how isolation,
to parent and economic abuse
therefore lacked
the skills necessary
to be a functioning
parent)
Historic trauma transmission

The First Nations, Inuit and Metis, have all suffered from the ignorance of the
European settlers who came to Canada. Taking their rights, their properties
and their ways of life.

We know that inequality is still a major issue across Canada, especially when it
comes to the rights of the Indigenous people.
“Historical trauma is cumulative emotional and psychological wounding over the
lifespan and across generations, emanating from massive group trauma.”
~Historic Trauma Report
Legacy and Movement Towards
Truth and Reconciliation
For decades, government inquiries, federal audits and international human
rights bodies have repeatedly and consistently pointed to an unacceptable
gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in the enjoyment of
basic human rights. Despite living in one of the world’s wealthiest
countries, Indigenous families and communities in Canada continue to face
widespread impoverishment, inadequate housing, food insecurity, ill-
health and unsafe drinking water. Indigenous peoples have demonstrated
extraordinary resilience in the face of historic programs and policies such
as residential schools meant to destroy their cultures, but they still live
with the largely unresolved legacy of the harm that was done… it's time for
Truth and Reconciliation.
Amnesty International, Our Work Issues, Indigenous Peoples in Canada
Dialogue Continues:
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal
Peoples

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) was a

Canadian Royal Commission established in 1991 to address
many issues of Aboriginal status that had come to light with
events such as the Oka Crisis and the Meech Lake Accord.
The commission culminated in a final report of 4000 pages,
published in 1996. When the Royal Commission on Aboriginal
Peoples (RCAP) released its final report it set out a 20-year
agenda for implementing changes to better the lives of
Indigenous people in this country.
CBC Article on the results after 20 years
The Government- Statement of
Apology
“The government now recognizes that the consequences
of the Indian Residential Schools policy were profoundly
negative and that this policy had a lasting and damaging
impact on Aboriginal culture, heritage and language…on
behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, I
stand before you, in this Chamber so central to our life as
a country, to apologize to Aboriginal peoples for Canada’s
role in the Indian Residential Schools system.”
~P.M. Stephen Harper, June 11, 2008

(View full apology on YouTube

Canada Apologizes for Residential Schools)
Dialogue Continues:
Truth and Reconciliation

The Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation

Commission (TRC) was established on June 1, 2008.
As a component of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement
Agreement, the TRC is an independent body that oversees a
process to provide former students and anyone who has been
affected by the Indian Residential Schools legacy, with an
opportunity to share their individual experiences in a safe and
culturally appropriate manner. 
Explore the TRC Website to learn more about the commission
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Truth and Reconciliation

The important work of truth-gathering continues from coast to coast to coast, as

Survivors of the Residential School system share their experiences with the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission. As the Commission begins the second half of its
mandate, the time has come to bring reconciliation into the discussion.
Watch the Video  Video: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
CBC Article Truth and Reconciliation offers 94"calls to action"
Globe and Mail Article
Three years later, Is Canada keeping its Truth and Reconciliation promises?
 Treaty Recognition Week is
celebrated every first full week
of November

Why should Treaty Recognition Week

we recognize WATCH: TREATY

originated in 2016 when the
Treaty Recognition Week Act
was passed
treaties?
Treaty Recognition Week occurs
to bring awareness to the treaty
relationships between the
Indigenous and non—
Indigenous people in the
province of Ontario
 Canada’s State of Emergency

– How can keeping the treaties be a great change maker for everyone?
– What would be the benefits for our society, the environment, and humanity as
a whole?
– Watch: Tedx Talk – Canada’s State of Emergency by Pamela Palmater
THE CHURCHES APOLOGIZE

Are Churches in solidarity with reconciliation?

The Anglican Church of Canada

Apology to Native Peoples
The United Church of Canada
1986 Apology to First Nations Peoples
The Presbyterian Church
Healing and Reconciliation
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Apology on Residential Schools
 DIALOGUE BEGINS
• The relationship between Indigenous peoples and Europeans has had times of
cooperation, but also has a history of colonization and attempted assimilation.
• Today, many Indigenous peoples in Canada are reviving Indigenous spiritual traditions,
some doing so as Indigenous Christians.
• The Blessed Kateri is the patron of the Tekakwitha Conference, an annual gathering of
Indigenous Catholics that started in 1939.
– The goal was to begin a discussion of how the Catholic Church could better
respond to traditional Indigenous beliefs and practices.
– Half a million Indigenous Catholics from 300 nations are members.
– The conference looks at ways Indigenous Catholics can remain both Indigenous
and Catholic.
• In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the Church’s relationship shifted to dialogue.
• Greater efforts have been made to respect Indigenous traditions and have brought
some Indigenous rituals into the Church.
• Many Indigenous Christians did not leave their cultures; Christianity made sense to their
cultures.
• Christian and traditional Indigenous ways can live side by side.
 ACTION: BLESSED KATERI
CONFERENCE

The Blessed Kateri is the patron of the Tekakwitha

Conference, an annual gathering of Indigenous
Catholics that started in 1939. Its goal was to begin READ: Saint Kateri of Tekakwitha's story
a discussion of how the Catholic Church could
better respond to Traditional Indigenous beliefs and
practices. Half a million Indigenous Catholics Take 3 minutes to complete the:
from 300 nations are members. The conference Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Retreat
looks at ways Indigenous Catholics can remain both
Indigenous and Catholic.