Blogs Posts from the Anglican Indigenous Network

In February 2015, the Anglican Diocese of Montreal hired a diocesan-sponsored clergyperson to focus exclusively on Indigenous ministries. Originally from the northern Quebec community of Kuujjuarapik in the Diocese of the Arctic, the Rev. Annie Ittoshat brings a strong cultural and professional background to her position as Aboriginal Community Minister. Her newly-created position offers a particular focus on ministry to the large population of Inuit in Montreal who have come from northern communities for employment opportunities, social services, or to seek medical treatment.

The full article can be found here

[Photo: The Rev. Annie Ittoshat currently serves as Aboriginal community minister for the Diocese of Montreal. Submitted photo by Janet Best]

Archbishop Brown Turei has announced his intention to retire after more than 65 years in ordained ministry.

He will resign as Bishop of Tairawhiti at the end of this year, and as Bishop of Aotearoa – leader of the Maori arm of the Anglican Church – from the end of March next year.

He has planned his resignation in two stages, he says, “to allow Tairāwhiti and Waipounamu to elect new Bishops and have full representation in place before the election for a new Bishop of Aotearoa is convened.

The full article can be found here

St John’s College today welcomed a mid-year intake of students – and formally launched a pilot leadership development programme for its new Tikanga Maori students.

The five new students welcomed today have set sail on a 19-week (one semester) leadership development programme, devised and overseen by the Dean of Tikanga Maori, Rev Katene Eruera.

The idea is that once they’ve completed that, they’ll continue with an academic programme. Most of the new students are heading down the ordination track.

The full article can be found here

Video can be found here: 

https://www..facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/679720348836142/?fref=nf

[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.]