Reconciliation toolkit
For more than three decades, the Anglican Church of Canada has been on a journey of listening, truth-telling, repentance and healing with Indigenous Peoples, both within and outside the church. There is an urgent need for further healing and justice-seeking across the land, and we all have a role to play.
Since the conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) mandate in 2015 and the release of the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action, Anglicans across Canada have been seeking ways to continue the process of truth-telling and healing begun by the TRC. From commemorations, walks and feasts to study groups and social action groups, more and more people are getting involved in this ongoing healing journey. Reconciliation, right relationship, justice-seeking—these are all part of a “trajectory of grace”. There are many places to enter into this journey. Wherever you are at, you will find resources here to help you either enter into this journey for the first time, or take the next step on that journey.
Learn the history | Resources for study and use | Build relationships | Practice reconciliation
What do we know, or think we know, about the history of Indigenous peoples in Canada—and in particular their relationship to the church? Much of what non-Indigenous Canadians learned about Indigenous peoples in school was either inaccurate or absent from their education altogether. Part of being on a journey of right relationship is learning the truth about what happened. These are some places to start.
• Individual school histories
• General Synod Archives – extensive collection of genealogical and Residential School records
• The Anglican Church of Canada’s apology for residential schools
• Missing children
• Indian Residential Schools (IRS) Settlement Agreement
• A Covenant and our Journey of Spiritual Renewal
• Indigenous Peoples and the Anglican Church in Canada: Timeline of an Evolving Relationship
• Where We Are Today: Twenty Years after the Covenant, an Indigenous Call to the Wider Church
• Let Our Yes Be Yes
• Archive of IRS communications
As we move into learning more and unlearning things we thought we knew, an abundance of resources exist to help us further our education. Here you can find books, videos, and other online resources produced by the church and others.
• Unsettling the Settler Within
• Indigenous Writes
• First Nations 101
• The Inconvenient Indian
• Intotemak trilogy
• Reconciliation Manifesto
• CBC Indigenous Authors List
• A Fair Country: Telling Truths about Canada
• Unsettling Canada
• Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back
• “A First Look At” brochures by the Primate’s Commission on Discovery, Reconciliation, and Justice
• A New Agape
• A Manual for Decolonization
• KAIROS Strength for Climbing
• CBC Radio Unreserved
• Canadian Council of Churches Undoing Racism
• 94 Calls to Action
• Beyond 94: Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. Interactive resource from the CBC
• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
• The Indian Act Said What? Reviewing the Indian Act from 1876 – 2017 by the Native Women’s Association of Canada
• Treaties in Canada—Education Guide
• Indigenous Ally Toolkit by the Montreal Urban Aboriginal Community Strategy Network
• An Apology For Spiritual Harm
• Dignity. Courage. Resilience. A Reconciliation Feast
• Doctrine of Discovery: Stolen lands, Strong Hearts—video produced by the Primate’s Commission on Discovery, Reconciliation and Justice.
• National Film Board of Canada: Indigenous Cinema
• Sacred Circle videos
• Reserve 107: Reconciliation on the Prairies
• Namwayut: we are all one. Truth and reconciliation in Canada
• Niigaanibatowaad: FrontRunners
True reconciliation involves right relationships, and right relationships involve getting to know one another. Building relationships is best done at a local level, so it’s important to find out whose land you are on, what Indigenous organizations and groups are at work in your area, and who you can connect with in your area.
Photo used for Learn the History section from the General Synod Archives, File P2014-05-49. Other photos General Synod Communications.