Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Review of “Our Home and Treaty Land”

I was delighted to discover, recently, a review of the book Dr Ray Aldred (Vancouver School of Theology) and I put out last year, “Our Home and Treaty Land.” The review is on the blogsite of “Dim Lamp” (Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson). Garth did a great job of summarizing and encapsulating the book. It was a delight to read, and I know Ray (below) will enjoy the review as well.

In fact, it’s interesting how sometimes, what a reviewer pulls out reminds you, as a writer, of what you were trying to accomplish. That’s really gratifying, and I’m thankful to Dim Lamp for that!

Professor Aldred in his Preface speaks of both Indigenous peoples and settler-descended Canadians living in exile because of colonization. Then he states the purpose of this book: “This book is about “being alive well,” or “journeying well,” for settler-descended Canadians, in relation to us Indigenous people.

p.9 Our Home and Treaty Land

In fact, sometimes as an author, you wonder if folks will get the main point of what you’re writing. Occasionally, a good reviewer will go beyond that, to show the links between subjects you might only allude to. For instance:

It was on walking pilgrimages “…that eventually led (Rev. Dr. Anderson) to meeting, listening to, and learning from Indigenous activists, scholars, artists and friends, including Rev. Dr. Aldred, Richard Kotowich, and Louise Skydancer Halfe (p. 17).” His walking pilgrimages were mostly on Treaty 6 and Treaty 4 lands. 

To read the full review, you can go to Dim Lamp’s blog HERE. To order the book, it’s best to visit the website of The Curious Cat Tea and Books, who will happily take your order and mail you a copy! (Better to order from The Curious Cat as Wood Lake will discontinue its book shipping as of June or July 2023).

I’ll leave the last word to “Dim Lamp.” (Again, you can read the full review HERE.):

All settler-descended Canadians would benefit from reading this volume… Highly recommended!

Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

Scarf and Medicine Bundle

Matthew squares off with Scarf Women

On my leaving, the Finns of Montreal gave me a gift. It wasn’t a gift card, or a gold watch (do people do that anymore?) or a bottle of fancy wine. They thought about who I was to them, and who they were to me. Then nine households – nine different women, to be more precise – knitted a scarf. Together. They each, in turn, added wool from Finland, and colours from their homes that would mean something.

I’ve rarely been so touched. I wear the scarf often. I keep it in a place where I can look at it, as I’m doing now. Its colours tell me about the people who knitted it and the services and events we enjoyed together. Its heft in my hands reminds me how warmly I was embraced by the Finnish community. Although it wasn’t intended as such, the scarf turned out to be the perfect length for a stole (that priests and pastors wear over their robe as a sign of their ordination). When I got it, I told the women it would be a ritual object for me – it couldn’t help but be, because of how it was made.

In 1884 Canada’s Federal Government passed the potlach law, part of the Indian Act. It “legally” abolished all “Indian cultural practices,” the Sun Dance, the potlach, and other religious ceremonies. It also forbade Indigenous people and groups from keeping their ritual items. That provision was only repealed in the 1950s. Bob Joseph, in 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, writes that “for 71 years…almost three generations grew up deprived of the cultural fabric of their ancestors….thousands of irreplaceable ceremonial masks, robes, blankets, and other….items were lost forever to their people” (49).

When I walked into the Castle Museum here in Nottingham UK, the first thing to catch my eye was the medicine pouch you see below. The little sign says it comes from Alberta, Canada. When ceremonies – the life of a culture – were outlawed, many of the stolen objects were given to museums. That bundle belonged – STILL belongs – to someone…Blackfoot? Cree? It’s hard to imagine someone coming into my house to take my Finnish scarf, or a Bible, or a communion chalice. But that’s exactly what my government did to the Indigenous peoples. Learning this, and remembering it, is part of being ready for reconciliation.

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