4 February 2016
[Anglican Church of Canada by Matt Gardner] Alongside the legacy of cultural genocide against the Indigenous peoples of Canada, embodied in the residential school system, is the tragic history of what some scholars consider to be a case of full-fledged genocide. The Beothuk, the Indigenous people of Newfoundland, were declared extinct in 1829 following the death of their last known living member, Shanawdithit. The annihilation of a people due to starvation, disease, violence and competition for resources, and the loss of virtually their entire culture, followed centuries of encroachment by European settlers.
In 1819, an armed band of men journeyed into central Newfoundland seeking a Beothuk group accused of stealing their property. During the resulting skirmish, several Beothuk people were killed, including Nonosabasut, the man believed to be the chief of the tribe.
His wife, Demasduit, was captured and brought to the town of Twillingate. There she was put in the care of the Rev. John Leigh, an Anglican priest and missionary who in 1816 had become the area’s first resident clergyman and who voiced concerns about the treatment of the Beothuk.
The full article can be found here
[photo.The Rev. Dr. Joanne Mercer, rector of the Parish of Twillingate, stands beside Gerald Squires' statue "The Spirit of the Beothuk" in Boyd's Cove, Nfld. The statue depicts Shanawdithit, the last known living member of the Beothuk people.]
3 February 2016
[By CLARISSA SEBAG-MONTEFIORE] YARRABAH, Australia — This remote stretch of coastline in north Queensland has much to offer: pristine beaches dotted with mango and palm trees, tropical breezes, an azure ocean.
But the lush surroundings belie a troubled history. Yarrabah was settled as an Anglican mission in the 1890s, and Aboriginal and some South Sea island natives were forcibly relocated here from their traditional lands. Under mission rule, they toiled in agriculture, working on sugar and coffee plantations, for meager rations.
Children were separated from their parents and sent to church-run dormitories, their native languages banned and their freedom of movement curtailed and the Aboriginal community still struggles with this grim history.
2 November 2015
Read online here
In This Issue:
5 October 2015
Located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in Québec, the Kahnawà:ke territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) people, faces an issue shared by First Nations communities across the country: the preservation of its language and culture.
Out of a population of approximately 8,000 people, less than 200 speak Kanien’kehá:ka as their first language. The majority of native speakers are elders, whose advancing age means that that number declines further each year.
Referring to the proportion of native speakers, Reaghan Tarbell, executive director of theKanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center, noted, “That really … shows you that a significant number of the population does not know the language, and we need to try and reach our different segments of the population any way we can.”
2 October 2015
In advance of the annual Sisters in Spirit Vigils, which take place across Canada on Sunday, Oct. 4 to raise awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, the Anglican Church of Canada has provided a resource offering guidelines for prayers and ceremony. Available free online, the resource includes suggested guidelines on creating Sacred Spaces, the lighting of candles to remember those missing and murdered, storytelling, and making commitments for change. It also provides a list of recommended hymns and songs, prayers, and Scripture readings for reflection.
