Religions for Peace Hosts Faithful Conversation: Restorative Justice, Intergenerational Healing, and Reconciliation

Introduction 

Following the discovery of unmarked and mass graves on the grounds of Residential Schools in Canada, and in response to the Religions for Peace World Council statement religious and spiritual leaders gathered in a Faithful Conversation to share stories of pain and suffering, the importance of listening, and the hope for peace and love. In “Restorative Justice, Intergenerational Healing, and Reconciliation,” the need for a common loving future in which the sufferings of the past are heard was made clear.

Beginning in 1883, indigenous children in many parts of Canada were forced to attend residential schools  in forced assimilation programs. Most of these schools were operated by churches and religious missions, and all of them prohibited the use of indigenous languages and cultural practices. Over 100 years, 150,000 indigenous, Inuit, and Metis children were interned at residential schools and many children suffered extreme violence and abuse. The recent discovery of mass graves and unmarked graves, where the bodies of children as young as three years old were secretly buried, confirms that thousands of children died in these schools.

Religions for Peace, hearing the words of its World Council, recognizes that “the unfolding events in Canada add to the impetus for all of us to face our historically flawed approaches towards Indigenous communities, and reinforces the need to take responsibility for the protection of survivors from re-traumatization, as well as seeking to prevent the recurrence of such attitudes and crimes”

Discussion Highlights 

Grand-Father T8aminik (Dominque) Rankin, Algonquin Hereditary Grand Chief and Co-President, Religions for Peace, was himself brought to such a school and lived there for seven years. Grand-Father, whose real name is Kapiteotak (He who is heard crying from afar), shared with attendees from around the world the suffering that he and many others endured at the hands of those who supposedly spoke in the name of God. “We were not even animals, we became objects, sexual objects.”

Grand-Father Rankin’s sharing tells the story of so many Indigenous persons whose lives, culture, and people were oppressed and trampled. While important steps were taken by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it is still undecided whether true restorative justice has ever been offered to the First Nations peoples. As Grand-Father shared, the scars have been unexpectedly reopened and the suffering is great.

Moderator Prof. Dr. Craig Calhoun, University Professor at Arizona State University and member of the Religions for Peace Secretary General’s Advisory Council, offered an important framework for understanding the role religious communities in such moments. Religions are “communities of memory.” Indeed, the work of memory, which was undertaken in this event, involves both individuals and peoples, and those who were present and those who come afterwards.

The role of language and speaking in the shaping of memory was underlined by Dr. Andrea Bartoli, President of the Sant’Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue, who noted that such an event allows those were intentionally shut out by others in history to have their voice. In moments such as this one, the children who suffered and died at the Residential Schools regain their voice.  

Moving Forward 

The question of healing and justice was and remains the most pressing question for all, especially for the members of the First Nations. Grand-Father Rankin offered a route for the future as he shared that every day he wakes up with hope for healing. Despite the incredible suffering, which is repeatedly brought up by memories and conversation, the commitment to hope and to healing is the foundation of any just shared future. “Violence and accusations will not heal. Only love can do that.” While there is no clear route or map, the critical element is that of love, which produces encounters of justice and care.

As Prof. Azza Karam made clear, these encounters of pain and suffering are also encounters of healing. While we cannot eliminate suffering or its historical legacy, as we share intimate vulnerabilities, we take steps towards healing. We find one another not in the absence of pain, but in the presence of pain. Every moment of encounter offers an opportunity for hope, as said by Dr. Bartoli.

All expressed hope for the achievement of restorative justice, which is deserved by the First Nations peoples and all peoples victimized by others. Such a process, however, requires the presence and participation of all – not just of a few – in a common spirit of building a new future together. There is a responsibility to remember, to create memory, for those who participated to repent and admit that violence is wrong.

Committed to an effort of dialogue and multi-religious reconciliation, the Religions for Peace World Council statement makes clear that only “by standing together with humility, against pain and injustice, the truth can be allowed to come forward, permitting the spiritual reparation needed for a future of love and fraternity — which all faith traditions around the world call upon humanity to realise.”

As all were reminded by Prof. Karam, the imposition of repentance or reconciliation is impossible. Instead, we must be and are, as Religions for Peace committed to encounter, listening, and healing. In our diversity, there is great strength. As Grand-Father Rankin said, we are all in different canoes, but we go on in love together.