The world’s religious communities recommit to partnering with indigenous communities in advancing peace with justice, healing the wounds, and working towards reconciliation
As religious and spiritual leaders in Canada, and from across the globe, we share the profound sorrow and agony of Indigenous communities as unmarked graves of Indigenous children are found on the grounds of residential schools in Canada. We join our fellow Religions for PeaceHonorary President Grand-Father Dominique Rankin, who himself is a victim and survivor of the physical and sexual abuse at a residential school, in recommitting ourselves to advancing peace with justice, healing the old wounds, and walking together the difficult path towards reconciliation.
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 other cultural practices. Over 100 years, 150,000 Indigenous, Inuit, and Metis children were interned at residential schools and a large number of 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.
We join Religions for Peace leaders in Canada in support of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, bringing about processes of healing while also educating the Canadian public. We also acknowledge that the work of the Commission, which includes leaders of Indigenous spiritualities, coincides with successful advocacy for reclaiming of their historical lands and greater self-governance.
Many Indigenous communities have experienced a revival of their languages, cultural practices, religion, and spirituality, which we recognize and support as an important part of recovering from the historical wounds of disregard, disparagement, and oppression.
As leaders of the world’s religious traditions, the unfolding events in Canada adds 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.
We maintain that revenge and retribution have no place, as we insist on the need for justice. In solidarity with all those suffering historical wrongs, we call on all people of good will to continue working for justice and reconciliation. Respectful of the traditions of First Nations and many Indigenous Peoples around the world, we call for an honest and genuine undertaking of a process of restorative justice.
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.