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Church leaders mark 20 years anniversary of covenant with Aboriginal Peoples

June 22, 2007

By pwrdf

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Joint Anglican and Lutheran Ceremony today at General Synod

On June 21st, National Aboriginal Day 2007, representatives of several Canadian Church organizations marked the 20th anniversary of the signing of a document entitled A New Covenant: Towards the Constitutional Recognition and Protection of Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada.

The Covenant, originally signed in 1987, pledged the Church organizations to support Aboriginal Peoples in Canada in their continued struggle for justice and self-determination. The signing this month is a renewal of that commitment.

This action is timely:

  • One week before the National Day of Action on June 29, a day to raise awareness and support for urgent action on First Nations issues.
  • Twenty days after the release of the report of Ontario’s Ipperwash Inquiry into the death of George Dudley, calling for the return of disputed land and compensation to the Stoney Point First Nation, and for the establishment of an independent agency to oversee the settlement of land and treaty claims.
  • A month after Minister Jim Prentice announced that the Prime Minister  will not issue an apology as part of the government’s settlement with survivors of Indian Residential Schools. 
  • One year after the government of Canada decided to oppose UN adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, reversing the previous government’s  policy to support and advocate the Declaration.
  • And one year after the government of Canada scrapped the Kelowna Accord, a landmark $5 billion plan to address housing, health, economic development and wealth generation in Indigenous communities, reached under the previous government in November 2005.

In the last 20 years the Churches have accomplished many significant markers of restoring relationship:

  • Churches were specifically named in the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, released in November 1995, for their role in advocacy and healing, and for having the greatest potential to foster awareness and understanding in realizing a renewed relationship with Aboriginal peoples.
  • Churches have individually offered formal apologies to Indigenous peoples for the harm caused by the system of Indian Residential Schools in which historic mission churches were fully complicit. 
  • In 2001 the churches collected over 50,000 signatures on the Jubilee Petition on Aboriginal Land Rights calling on the Prime Minister of Canada to “act immediately to establish a truly independent commission with the mandate to implement Aboriginal land, treaty and inherent rights.” The petition was part of the year-long Land Rights, Right Relations campaign calling for a new relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples based on mutual respect, mutual responsibility and sharing.
  • In 2002 the churches worked with the Native Women’s Association of Canada to launch the Sisters in Spirit campaign, to draw attention to the issue of violence against Aboriginal women in Canada.
  • From 2002-2007 the churches collaborated with various Aboriginal organizations to prepare submissions for UN committees reviewing Canada’s compliance to international human rights covenants.
  • In 2003, churches joined to raise awareness and express opposition to the First Nations Governance Act (Bill C-7), which threatened to unilaterally impose legislation that would impact on Indigenous rights, and move us ever further away from a renewed relationship with Aboriginal people based on “mutual recognition, respect, responsibility, and sharing.”
  • In 2004 and 2006 the churches worked with Aboriginal organizations and communities, as well as other NGOs, to host Indigenous Water Rights Conferences in Pinawa, Manitoba and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
  • Churches united in 2006 to support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples through petitions and presentations, in the face of the opposition of the Canadian government. 
  • In 2007, the Anglican, United, and Presbyterian churches formed an Ecumenical Working Group to prepare the way for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to be launched in early 2008, as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
  • Regionally, churches and church-based organizations have supported and collaborated with Aboriginal communities and organizations on various relationship-building and rights-based initiatives.


Today the Churches re-commited themselves:

1. To draft and sign a New Covenant by December 2007 as a collaboration of churches and Aboriginal organizations.

2. To support and participate in the Assembly of First Nations’ Make Poverty History for First Nations campaign; and the Sisters in Spirit campaign of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, including the National Vigil on October 4, 2007.

3. To promote the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and actively engage institutional churches and Indigenous communities in the TRC process, 2008-2013 and beyond.

4. To continue to press the government of Canada to sign onto the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

In addition to the above, the churches, through KAIROS, will continue to educate and raise awareness among church members and the wider public on
•Aboriginal self-determination;
•Nation-to-nation relationships leading to the recognition of Aboriginal nationhood and a new relationship with Aboriginal peoples; and
•How to use international rights systems and instruments to promote Aboriginal peoples’ rights. 
More Information
General Synod coveragePWRDF Canadian Development storiesKAIROS Aboriginal Rights program

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