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LORNA’S
GLOBE & MAIL ARTICLE
Where The Church Might Help The State
By LORNA DUECK
Print Edition 11/07/06 Page A13
Today
marks the 16th anniversary of the Oka
land dispute that saw a police officer lose his life over a golf course
expansion into treaty-contested land. It's a good moment to lift up the
carpet and re-examine the nasty bit of evil we like to keep sweeping
away: Canada's
300 unresolved land-claim disputes with our first nations neighbours.
All these years later, Oka negotiations are still unresolved,
barricaded natives in Caledonia,
Ont., are six months into their standoff, and who knows what's next?
Isn't it time we consider what we might gain by considering the
spiritual dimensions of these disputes?
Quite a lot, I thought, as I stood
recently at a fascinating intersection of state and church at Her
Majesty's Chapel of the Mohawks, not far from the current Caledonia land-claim dispute.
The Canadian Bible Society had brought political and church leaders,
both native and white, to celebrate the 200-year anniversary of the
Mohawk translation of the Gospel of John. The Mohawk Chapel is one of Canada's oldest
churches and, from there, the ceremony moved to one of the newest, a
nearby Baptist church sitting amidst the disputed Caledonia land claim with a Six
Nations warrior flag planted high in the tree in its yard.
Ontario MPP David Levac, whose riding
covers this disputed ground, spoke passionately of the need for peace
and pleaded with churchgoers to "eliminate the tricksters -- they are
all over us."
Tricksters, in aboriginal tradition,
are imaginary devils who interfere with human activities. Mr. Levac
didn't need to explain to the audience the reality of demons disturbing
human affairs. The Mohawk translation we had gathered to celebrate was
written by a frustrated native war hero, John Norton, who was kept
waiting months for an 1806 hearing by the British Privy Council on the
land-claim disputes along the Grand River in Caledonia.
While he waited, he translated the Gospel of John; 200 years later, we
were on the same disputed land. Nothing much had changed in the course
of justice.
What of the "tricksters," could they
be working against us? Perhaps it's best if you decide. One of
Christianity's greatest contemporary authors, Oxford
professor Clive Staples Lewis, helped millions imagine how the great
trickster, the devil, might try to distract humanity from God's best
ideas. In his popular wartime book, The Screwtape Letters,
C.S. Lewis imagined an exchange of letters between a senior devil,
Screwtape, and his nephew, Wormwood, a junior tempter. Those letters
helped people acknowledge their personal worlds were also a
battleground for issues of the heart, issues that could stop a nation
from moving forward in the goodness of God.
I could imagine, taken from such a
perspective, the Caledonia
dispute might sound like this.
My dear nephew,
Your battles in the media have been
remarkably successful.
The angry images at Caledonia have evoked fear and
delicious voices of racism. Telling a story of 200 years complexity in
sound bites and two-minute runs has been brilliant; the humans have
gobbled it up and the loss of knowledge is on our side. They are
impatient and ill-informed on all these areas, and neither side has an
appetite for facing truth -- which is where we have the advantage. I am
also glad you have kept their chief, David General, out of the press.
He does not support the barricade and his voice must continue to be
silenced and divided from his people at Six Nations. Keep your
distortion tactics vigilant.
Your affectionate uncle,
Trickster
Nephew,
They were singing Khenorankwha
at our battleground at Caledonia
and it cannot continue. It is Mohawk for love and medicine. "Jesus is
good medicine," they sang; I'm not pleased. It was a wretched scene,
dancing and drumming to the Creator. It cannot happen again. Don't
mistake their little Mohawk translation as a harmless distraction. The
Jesus in their Mohawk Bible demands unqualified just treatment of all
peoples and asks the oppressed to forgive and love their oppressors.
How is our cycle of greed, bitterness and repayment supposed to survive
that? We have had an unfortunate setback and we must regain as quickly
as possible.
See that the singing to the Creator
stops.
Your uncle,
Trickster
Dear nephew,
Perhaps I am overreacting; I am sorry
if I caused you second thought. Let's assess our advances: Both sides
have become quite hardened in their ways; there have been so many of
our inspired transactions completed, I can't foresee any hope of
forgiveness or reconciliation. Remember our stroke of genius decades
ago, when our state efforts conspired to ask the church to enforce our
policy to wipe out Indian identity? Oh, the delicious wounds run so
deep. Remember, the human is designed with free will, which, for the
most part, chooses to go its own path separate from the Creator. This
forgiveness the Creator inspires doesn't stand a chance. I approve of
your heavy use of the drug of apathy on the masses; I'm sure we can
continue to destroy first nations people and justice in Canada
for many more years.
The church holds the secret, make
sure it continues to hide it. Stay the course.
With satisfaction,
Uncle
Trickster
Lorna Dueck hosts Listen Up
TV, a spiritual perspective on Canadian news on Global TV, CTS and Salt
and Light TV.
THE
TRANSCRIPT OF THE SHOW
In
this Mohawk chapel built in 1785, close to the contested barricade of
Caledonia’s dispute, First Nations and white Canadians gather
to
remember the great Creator is watching over history. If they needed
proof that the national argument over native land claims mattered to
the Creator, this story appears to have evidence enough.
As
part of his journey to understand his past, Wolf Thomas became a
actor/historian. He’s learned that during The American War of
Independence, warriors of his Six Nations tribe fought for the
British and sacrificed nearly four million acres around what is now
New York state and the Niagara River for their alliance.
“What
the warriors received for helping the British protect what would
become Canada was this new land along the Grand River, and it would
become the native reserve.”
Six
miles on each side of the Grand River, from its mouth to its source,
a total of 950,000 acres. The Haldimand Proclamation - a land tract
from the British Crown. Today, only 45,000 acres remain under Six
Nations control. A new subdivision of 600 homes up against the
dwindling Six Nations land sparked this confrontation between
Caledonia residents and their native neighbors. .
Wolf
supported the native blockade, but he learned that it wasn’t
the
first time the Great Creator hoped for justice. Dennis Hillis of the
Canadian Bible Society had also been looking into history and asked
Wolf to re-enact a war hero from his people; Teyoninhokarawen
– or John Norton as the British called him.
Wolf
…. “I learned a lot
……..bridging cultures”
Today’s
dispute at a subdivision began with an earlier Chief of the Six
Nations, Thayendanegea, or Joseph Brant. He was a respected
negotiator for racial harmony – many Canadian developments
today
bear his name. 200 years ago, Brant had a vision of partnership for
the Haldimand Tract, and leased land to white tenants, putting the
income into a public fund to support children and elderly among the
Six Nations. But within 40 years of signing the Haldimand
declaration, British officials blocked Brant’s lease
arrangements. Alarmed, Chief Brant asked Norton to help negotiate.
In
1804 Norton walked back to New York, received commendation from
Quakers there who had connections to Britain’s political
leaders. Quakers, like Norton and Brant, believed their lives were to
be
submitted to the rule of the Great Creator who cared for justice and
peace. So did the British politicians the Quakers referred Norton
to.
Hillis:
They were the Clapham Sect – Prime Minister William
Wilberforce
and team who were credited for abolishing slavery and starting the
British and Foreign Bible Society.
But
despite the spiritual connections for justice, Norton’s quest
for
aboriginal land was stalled.
And
in a quick brush of history, that is how Six Nations sees the loss of
the Haldimand tract. Broken agreements. They still see themselves
as a nation within a nation, distinct from Canadian law, and younger
warriors like Wolf are willing to stay on barricades despite judges
orders that they leave the protest:
“The
Canadian governments are the ones breaking the law. Under their law,
a lot of Canadians don’t even know what I’m talking
about, about
the evidence, about the government breaking their own law.”
Wolf
is convinced few Canadians know the history of broken agreements or
of native negotiators like John Norton.
“He
was very well educated, articulate, and from what I understand about
him, he also worked on building bridges between the 2 communities and
like you said earlier, he was frustrated by waiting on waiting
politics.”
But
in Norton’s day, while he waited to negotiate, he was asked
to
translate one of the Bible’s most life giving books, the
Gospel of
John into Mohawk. On the 200th anniversary of
that
translation, Dennis Hillis asked Wolf to re-enact the ceremony where
Norton brought that Gospel to the Six Nations. The fact that it
timed perfectly with another dispute over the same land, showed
history repeating itself.
Rev.
Dennis Hillis / Canadian Bible Society:
Everything
Wolf has said is true, we haven't stepped up as a nation and dealt
justly with First Nations people, we as Canadians need to treat them
fairly and with justice; we've broken most of treaties we've made
with them.
Participating
at the ceremony was Mavis Etienne, a Mohawk negotiator from an
earlier land claims dispute in Canada, Oka Quebec. 16 years ago a
police officer there was killed over arguments similar to Caledonia.
The reach into history for a land claim crisis that brought about a
Mohawk Gospel of John brings her hope:
Mavis
Etienne/Mohawk Negotiator at Oka Crisis - I think it has wonderful
significance because again God is in the picture, just like when we
had the crisis, you know, God was in control, and we knew it. With
the celebration of 200 years of the Mohawk language, so it’s
so
exciting, and when I was reading, I was reading from Norton’s
version.”
But
God in control is not what it feels like to residents caught in this
web of history.
The
disputed land is behind me and it’s too volatile to take our
cameras behind the barricade, the area has been taken over. The
community has said enough, camping out all over its quarters.
This
Six Nations protest is breaking court orders. Impatient protestors
are using quite different methods to protect their land than Brant
and Norton. The local mayor takes security precautions in what used
to be a peaceful community:
Haldimand
County Mayor Marie Trainer:
There's
no respect for the law, or Gov’t at any level, they have
ATV's
running up and down the street, baseball bats, weapons, terrorizing
people, lights in the bedroom, children are frightened, people have
taken their children away, threats,
…they
stop vehicles from entering properties, search vehicles, sexist
remarks, frightened from everything
Along
with people who break the law, there are wise and peaceful
negotiators from the Six Nations on this dispute, native lawyers who,
in the past ten years, have filed over 70,000 documents in court on
Haldimand concerns. There are also historical documents that show
much of this contested land did get sold at the end of
Brant’s
life. Sales caused by British officials blocking native goals for
self sufficiency. Justice has at least 200 years of tangled mess to
sort out here. Today, the public face of the frustrated warrior here
is one that has frightened and worn down the rural town of Caledonia.
The day we talked with the mayor, two cameramen were beaten and
hospitalized while 20 police stood by.
“911
means nothing anymore, no one comes, or if they come, they watch,
it's pretty scary...”
Ontario
Police protocol is to not enter reserves, but they have changed their
hands off approach at the nearby town of Caledonia. Five months into
the dispute, the government bought out the embattled subdivision from
its developers for $12.3 million. It puts the disputed land on hold
from development. Arrests have been made, theft and attempted murder
charges along with dozens of contempt of court charges laid, the law
is trying for a comeback. Warriors on the front line won’t
speak
with media about that unless it’s through their spokesperson,
Janie
Jamieson.
Janie
Jamieson:
“It's
hard to maintain control of everyone's emotions, no I don't condone
violence it's not our way...”
The
violence has retreated but everyone knows it could flare at any time.
Seven months into the dispute, white residents most affected are too
afraid to speak on camera. A letter from a Caledonia minister to her
parish describes the need for care: create
August
9/06 Stresses are showing in all sorts of ways these days.
Marriages are breaking down. People are losing
jobs. Some
are closing off to friends and family. If you get a gut
feeling
that somebody needs help, reach out in care. You will know
how
best to respond. God is with us on this journey.
We've
got to keep believing that soon, there will be an end to the
madness.”
Rev.
Chris McMaster,
St. Paul’s Anglican, Caledonia
What
makes settling Caledonia so difficult is the reality that Canadians
have died over smaller native disputes than the one here. Others like
it are brewing all across the country. Six Nations is
Canada’s
most populated reserve and they’re fighting for history to
change.
Rule of law being ignored said the judge – but
that’s the
argument both sides are staking their claim on – problem is,
they
each have a different understanding of the law. And caught in the
crossfire of justice, the church is praying for peace.
Throw: When we come back, spiritual perspectives to the problem of
justice
for Canada’s native land claims. Our question this week for
you
at home is “What will it take to resolve Canada’s
native issues?”
Listen
Up is back examining a battle being fought for all of
Canada’s
outstanding native land claims. Over 1000 specific land claims of
First Nations are before Canadian courts. Native warriors at
Caledonia, Ontario hope their protest will push settlements for all
the disputes. They’ve decided one more subdivision eroding
their
land claim was the final straw. How should the dispute be settled? Some
argue there are spiritual issues that need to be part of the
answer.
If
it was just one spurned negotiation, perhaps the dispute at Caledonia
wouldn’t be as complex as it is. “Many layers of
truth”, is
how negotiators have put it. You could say “many layers of
pain.”
Janie
Jamieson /Native Spokesperson
“A
lot of people think we only want this parcel of land back, there's so
much more, the Gov’t knows it, they know full well everything
they've done to our people.”
Janie
Jamieson was chosen by her people as their spokesperson for the
Caledonia protest. Not a clan mother, nor an elder, or elected
politician, she a First nation woman who’s kept track of her
people’s story:
“There’s
not one policy we’ve given permission to that has affected
our
lives …residential schools, etc. etc.”
Canadian
law denied First Nations the right to vote until 1960. Canadian law
forcibly removed tribal councils and traditional laws. It did not
allow natives to hire lawyers to argue for their rights. Between
1920 to 1996 the government ran Aboriginals residential schools. They
were first ordered by the Canadian government to separate native
children from parents and quote - “kill the Indian in the
child.”
Schools
were run by United, Presbyterian, Anglican and Roman Catholic
churches. This year, some of the churches who ran those schools
remembered their 20th anniversary of apology for
those
sins, other churches have sold their buildings to pay for the
lawsuits and give native victims compensation until finally in 2006,
the government agreed to pay residential school survivors
compensation.
These
kinds of wounds are at the heart of why the anger over land claims
runs so deep. There’s never been a national apology for the
wrong,
and statistics showing native people bear the highest rate of social
ills in the country are proof enough that Janie’s claim for
justice
is widely held among her people.
Despite
its flawed past in dealing with native people, the church is leaning
on its core message in this trauma.
Even
with Mohawk Christians giving their own story of how their hearts
have been healed through Jesus, the church knows the message must
come through the door of apology. Apology for their own part in
abusing native identity. The aboriginals here don’t believe
their
Christian faith is a white man’s religion.
Mavis
Etienne:” When I hear that I tell them, God is not white, God
created us all and he doesn’t make mistake, he loves variety.
Lorna
– and the fact that this message was carried by British
people,
white colonialists?
“I
have no problem with that – it helped me meet my Lord and
Saviour
who’s the center of my universe.”
This
Baptist church hosting this peace gathering is caught right next to
the disputed land. They’re using their location to bring the
Creator’s message of forgiveness and reconciliation
Its
not an isolated occasion – there have been prayer gatherings
like
this all across Canada – Missisauga Indians and clergy in
repentance, Whistler, Ottawa and Edmonton – and again at
Caledonia
– an interfaith call on the disputed for God’s
intervention for
peace.
Since
the beginning of the stand off, pastors in town have been praying
together weekly for healing a lasting resolution to the stand off.
Adrian Jacobs was on the protest line with his people:
“There
was a real feeling that this is a community thing, not just a few
radical people doing something wild.”
A
single father raising five children, Adrian grew up on Six Nations
Reserve. He stood in the protest with no weapon but prayer, he said,
determined the abuse of his people must stop.
I've
heard that many times, rule of whose law?
It's
not that 6 nations are lawless, there is a way the community has
governed itself, something still being sorted out, since 1924 the
elected system came in,
…one
of the things native people respond to is rule of law cannot mean
theft of land, failure to handle responsibility,...those kinds of
things are part of law. Law does not support lying or injustice
Even
though the Gov’t hasn’t kept their word, native
people still come
back, and I've said either native people are pathologically committed
to covenant or it’s just their nature to expect it to be
kept.”
For
Adrian, that battle is a spiritual one:
One
of the things that have come clear to me has been the issue of border
disputes, God made from one man every nation.
God
is involved in border disputes so we may find him; people have a
golden opportunity to find him in the midst of conflict.”
And
that’s exactly what appears to have happened as pastors have
had to
wonder what to do with broken government commitments that now affect
their community:
Rev.
Roy Hawkins / Pastors Church in disputed zone:
One
of the things this conflict has done has made us ask what are the
events that have taken place and are there sins of the parents that
need to be corrected at this stage of the game, the outcome will be
beneficial for the Aboriginal and people of Caledonia, the legacy we
leave will be…
I
think it’s sad when I read that 300-600 land claims are
registered
and still outstanding, as a Canadian I'm not happy and I think we can
do better
It’s
been a time of soul searching for spiritual guides in Caledonia. Ross
Baxter began weekly prayer meetings with clergy at the beginning
of the conflict.
Ross
Baxter / Caledonia Community Church:
“Watching
this unfold from the protestors first being out there, you get a
sense of the growing anger, the hidden heart, misunderstanding, and
brews into a volatile situation that you never know where
it’s
going to go. As you persevere and deal with the sins of the past,
deal with your heart, God’s holding up a mirror, are you
proud of
it, do you need to have a confession, and God wants to heal our
land.”
This
kind of friendship developed on the church lawn is a rare and
isolated incident – exactly the kind of spirit the entire
land
claims dispute needs.
When
we come back -- the Chief marginalized by his own warriors speaks out
on finding a way forward. Well I’ve been taken to task from
the
beginning …..I did not support the protest, they always go
sideways
…..So why go there in the first place?
Listen
Up is back looking for answers in what‘s become
Canada’s hidden
scar – land claim disputes with First Nations peoples.
We’re
watching Caledonia – a community that set out to build a 600
home
subdivision on land that the Six Nations people claimed
they’d
owned since 1784. The subdivision was stalled, just like progress on
1000 native land claims. We pick up our story with the Chief in
charge of the protesting native community.
The
drawn out stand off over building more homes in the Haldimand Tract
has deep parallels to history. When this dispute started, Chief of
the borderlands, Joseph Brant, lived a dangerous and double balancing
act – making relationships with powerful British and
Americans
while being a Mohawk leader wanting to help his people. Eventually,
no one agreed with his efforts. Today’s Chief, David General
faces
a similar challenge. He wrote and advised developers to stop their
plans for the 2006 expansion into Douglas Estates. He was ignored by
developers, and ignored when he advised restraint to his people. The
Six Nations website clearly explains the differing negotiations
since then (www.sixnations.ca)
all of it putting the Chief’s role under national scrutiny.
“So
right now there’s a tremendous amount of focus on the Six
Nations
….often on the discussions of development, not only our
history
…huge wave of development in the golden horseshoe
….some of the
resolve to come to the events in our territory may well be divine.
“this
is the first time I have heard a spiritual injection built into this
crisis./ The greetings, the readings, the words you spoke, included
that there is a hope the Creator’s Spirit, as you say, a
divine
moving that will have to part of resolving this. Am I over-reading
that?
Well
I’ve been taken to task from the beginning …..I
did not support
the protest, they always go sideways …..So why go there in
the
first place?
In
occupation of this sort …when you’re dealing with
the largest
First Nations in all of Canada, the number of people we could people
put on this site, the number of different agendas, .it not hard to
see it go sideways and to our dismay because the fallout it has.
You
can’t settle this out behind protest lines and the media
….gotta
sit at the table …..And how you’re going to
resolve.”
Tell
me about that, a native chief who says I will not support the does
not support the barricade
It’s
not a very popular stand …. But as I’ve told all
my colleagues
across the country, Caledonia is a very, very complicated issue. And
the more people see that, it’s not just about land,
it’s about
the internal dynamics of First Nations. And that’s probably
where
we need all the consideration, understanding and respect of every
body’s diverse points of view to resolve, reconcile some of
the
issues before of us.”
At
the height of this protest, over 100 chiefs from across Canada
traveled here to show solidarity for Six Nations. Despite the
pressure that this dispute is symbolic to all land claims across the
country, Chief General says safety comes first.
The
other message I’ve been giving to political leadership across
the
country is tell your people to send your prayers and best wishes for
a peaceful resolve but stay home. We don’t need your people
in
harm’s way. And that’s not a popular message but
it’s the only
way I can see of keeping people safe.”
Why
did this subdivision erupt? There’s been a wave of
development on
your people’s land, why did was this one the breaking point?
Probably
the proximity, people drove by it every day ….you could find
another site nearby ….but I remind people you could find
another
site similar to tell Gov’t to get on with the land claims
process.
Why
is the story for land claims not understood in Canada?
Well
I’m taken to task for calling it claim, not the language of
rights.
Rights
are the essence …. First nation’s people have been
messaging for
decades, centuries their attachment to the land.”
As
they’ve been working on that message – now
sometimes with
violence, sometimes with breaking Canadian law, ignoring the
provincial judge ruling to leave the barricade – have you
observed
any shortcomings in your people and their approach to this?
….To
the credit of our people, they’re very proud of our history,
but
sometimes you can be too proud. And that’s a hard statement
to
make, but everything has to have a balance. And pride, and your
nation and your sense of nationhood all have to have a balance. You
have to know your nation’s strengths and weaknesses, you have
to be
proud of what they’ve contributed and you also have to be
aware of
their shortcomings. You blend them all together and if you can
accept all of that, then you’re a proud citizen.”
Why
is prayer important for you on this process?
“I
was once told ….a lot of what we’re trying to
replace was
divinely given by the Great Spirit. ……. peace
keeper …..We
may have to wait for the second coming of the peace keeper.
When
you’re dealing with the matters of seriousness and emotions
of
people, I think you ……you have to use everything
….available to
you, the tact, .prayer, and Creator God to move away from our anger
and look at what we need to do.”
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