ABBA MINISTRIES OF CANADA

Excerpt from: OPEN LETTER FROM THE NATIONAL PASTOR
NEW YEAR 08

... What did Jesus mean when he said, "Love thy neighbour..."

I had waited patiently for the Spirit to guide me this Christmas season; indeed, this letter started out in early December with the title "Open letter – Christmas 07" but that was not to be. Writer’s block? I discussed this with my wife, Josephine and we decided that perhaps the Holy Spirit was just not ready to inspire. Such tragic events as the assassination of Benazir Bhutto passed; then on New Year’s Day, the reason became obvious when I read the web version of the Globe and Mail: and an article by Bill Curry blared, "Mounties to prepare Residential Schools Probe."

All pictures used in this article are dedicated to the 50,000 First Nations’ children who simply did not come home . Some died of disease, some of neglect and some from abuse. This is the reality of genocide in Canada.

The Indian Residential Schools issue is one of Canada’s most disgraceful secrets, which continues to fester in the dark, dank national closet, and it is an issue that has consumed many, many hours for me as a social activist. Hours with my grip solidly upon the wrist bones of that reluctant skeleton endeavouring without much real success to drag it toward daylight. Why is exposure such a monumental task? Firstly, there remains a prevailing attitude among non–natives that these people somehow ’deserved to be subjugated’, that they are inferior and that they should ’just get over it!’ In addition, the Canadian government never admits liability for anything until 99% of its victims are dead, and finally, the so–called Christian Churches who were the perpetrators of this genocide have enjoyed immunity from prosecution for all previous genocides and consider themselves above the law. Furthermore, these parsimonious ’christians’ fail to heed the warning that it is impossible to worship God and mammon.

Now, in 08, the RCMP [which can be defined as a para–military task force under the direction of the Federal Government] has lost the public confidence; in addition, the mounties are also well known for their liberal use of whitewash when it comes to political ’investigations’. There are many such investigations; however, good examples would be those into the activities of Brian Mulroney and John Buchanan. That the RCMP is investigating in this case is already a travesty of justice because they were involved in the crime. Like Hitler’s SS they broke down doors in the middle of the night and kidnapped innocent children at gunpoint if necessary, all at the government of Canada’s behest.

Like the Reverend Kevin Annett, who features deservedly in Bill Curry’s article I have vigorously opposed the mega–church attitude towards the genocide of the Residential Schools. Rev. Annett focuses upon the United Church of Canada, while I have fought a lonely duel with the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. Lonely? Let’s call it one–sided: Archbishop Hiltz ignores me of course, out of contempt perhaps, but despite my challenges to open debate on this issue his Grace has no answers and no debating dialogue. There are some ’fine words’ in public from the frugal Archbishop, but those words I liken to a rotten egg: while all glistens snow white and appears well on the outside, inside the shell of those fine words all is corruption and the stench is foul!

In the past, my detractors have said that I should not oppose the system: "Don’t rock the boat" they have suggested, "As ’christians’ we should all stick together..." Well, to them I will quote two men whom I admire greatly who dealt with the same problem:–

The first, Pope John XXIII, faced serious scandals [also involving genocide] surfacing regarding his predecessor Pius XII, the reichskonkordat and the holocaust. An agitated Vatican aide demanded of Pope John: "Your Holiness, what are we going to do about this?" The Saint replied: "My son, what can we do about the truth?"

The second was Pastor Martin Niemoller, a Protestant pastor and head of the anti–Nazi Confessing Church. Arrested for ’malicious attacks against the state’, he spent seven years in the Dachau and Sachsenhausen concentration camps before being released in 1945 by the Allies. Niemoller said: "First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me..."

The Indian Residential Schools in Canada

Let us backtrack for a moment and define the Residential Schools of Canada.

Not so many years ago, before the advent of mass communication strategies such as television and the Internet, the providence of ’charity’ fell predominantly to the mainline churches and their so–called missionary societies. These mega–churches were still powerful entities even a half–century ago, and hand–in–hand with colonial governments, they set out to help the world’s ’savages’ conform to the socio–religious norms of the day. A fair and honest example of the churches charitable activities took place right here in Canada. The big players were the federal government’s Department of Indian Affairs, the Roman Catholic Church [RCC], the Anglican Church of Canada [ACC], the Presbyterian Church of Canada [PCC] and its schismatic offspring the United Church of Canada [UCC].

These five organizations, one governmental and four mainline churches conspired to take the taxpayers money to run what became known by the deceptively benign title of ’The Indian Residential Schools’. By the way, similar schools were operated in the United States of America [under the name Indian Boarding Schools] and in Australia where the genocide is now known as ’The Lost Generation.’

The Residential Schools in Canada operated under the Indian Act and a governmental oxymoron known as the Gradual Civilization Act and, like Hitler’s concentration camps that might well have been [at least in part] modeled upon them, mandated the final solution of a racial problem. Here, it was the First Nations and Metis people of Canada who were the target, not the Jews. This was a government and church sponsored attempt to wipe out the native cultures, which was directed at innocent children and was at least partially successful in many cases. Essentially, these children were kidnapped and relocated in residences on school premises, which were often walled or fortified in some manner, and located deliberately to ensure a "proper distance" from the reserves to eliminate all parental contact. Often students had no contact with their families for years at a time. They were prohibited from speaking their native languages, robbed of their culture, abused sexually and physically, even murdered [50,000 died from disease or acts of violence] and the survivors were left to contemplate their devastated lives through the hopelessly clouded lens of alcohol, street drugs and suicide.

A survivor’s statement: I was five years old when I was taken away from mother; I can still remember the fear and loneliness that over took me. I was not allowed to see my two sisters who went to a girl’s school operated by the same church and only 400 feet across the road. I froze in the winter from lack of clothing, starved all the time and was forced to the watch whipping of students. I lost my culture and was forced to worship a god whose people were doing this to me. These are just few of my thoughts. I know there are people who don’t care about any one else, but if they had been wronged those people also cry the loudest."

Unlike the holocaust’s evildoers [Hitler’s SS] the perpetrators of this horrendous crime were the Primate of Canada, cardinals, bishops, priests and both religious and lay appointees of the aforementioned mega–churches, operating under the benign eye of the Government of the Dominium of Canada and the Royal House of Saxe–Coburg–Gotha [aka Windsor].

Eyewitness account: "I witnessed the murder of Maisie Shaw," testified Harriet Nahanee, Native Elder of the Pacheedaht Nation [1935–07]. In December 1946, Alfred Caldwell, then Principal of the Alberni Residential School, kicked fourteen–year–old Maisie Shaw down a flight of stairs to her death. The Reverend Kevin Annett reported the Maisie Shaw murder the day he learned about it, in December 1995, but encountered a familiar resistance from the UCC and the RCMP when requesting an investigation. [Rev. Caldwell was never brought to trial. The RCMP still refuses to investigate her death, and have even issued a fake death certificate that claims that Maisie died of "heart failure", even though the RCMP also told her parents that she was "hit by a train"]. Both the United Church and the RCMP continue to cover–up and deny her murder and refuse to reveal where she is buried.

The Anglican Church of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools

Where does his Grace Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada stand on this issue in January of 08?

Before we review some extracts from his Grace’s New Year [08] sermon, just released, and compare those fine Christian sentiments with the current reality, I would like to point out that as Bishop Hiltz of Nova Scotia and PEI the Primate and his successor Bishop Susan Moxley have shamelessly used the Residential Schools as a fundraising tool extraordinaire under the guise of their Leap for Faith Capital Campaign.

After the Residential Schools settlement became public knowledge in 03 Hiltz immediately announced that his, "Parishioners would fund raise $1.25 million that summer to meet the obligations of his diocese." I corresponded with Hiltz at that time, and I also raised the spectre of charitable gouging in my local church newsletter, expressing my concern and disgust that this fundraising would deplete the limited amount of charitable dollars available in Nova Scotia and PEI by such a large amount in order to pay for the sins of the Anglican Church. Needless to say, Bishop Hiltz did not reply; although, he did not mention the matter again publicly. Obviously, the initial fundraising did not go too well, because in 04 Hiltz announced his Leap for Faith Capital Campaign.

En route to becoming fund–raising celebrities within the ACC, Bishops Hiltz and Moxley felt that while they were at it they might as well fix the cathedral roof and make life generally more comfortable for themselves at diocesan headquarters in Halifax, because they upped the ante to $3.3 million of which they have aggressively raised over ninety percent thus far and on top of bequests, tithes and other givings. It is fair to say that the majority of this windfall will be spent within the Anglican Church itself and to note that other dioceses have followed Hiltz’s ’Midas touch’ example.

Extracts from the Primate of Canada’s 08 New Year’s sermon

The Primate appears to use the 07 General Synod as a backdrop for this sermon, conveniently ignoring the fact that since then the ACC has been in full blown schism over the Same Sex Blessings issue. It is very obvious from the content that Archbishop Hiltz is politically inept and can only see that which he wants to see, and even then through rose–tinted glasses. Judge for yourself!

Primate Hiltz: "Another exciting moment in the General Synod was the installation of the National Indigenous Anglican Bishop, the Right Rev. Mark MacDonald. A high priority in his ministry is meeting with First Nations’ communities, listening to their needs and hopes and working with their bishops to address them."

Reality: For ’communities’ read ’Anglican congregations’. This is not about ’meetings’ and ’compensation’, there has been enough empty rhetoric already and what amount of money can possibly compensate the survivors even if the ACC were to part with it? And how may I ask can there be ’reconciliation’ with those small, dead children? In an early 07 article I speculated that if I could get Hiltz to debate the matter in public, an event which is unlikely to take place this side of Armageddon, Mark MacDonald would be his ace–in–the–hole. The imaginary debate would rage until the ace was played: "Ah," Hiltz might intone, with the air of a man about to repeat the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus, "The Anglican Church has appointed Mark MacDonald as Bishop to oversee Aboriginal affairs." At this point, the ACC’s past affiliation with Indian Affairs would magically disappear, all claims would be dropped and the sun would shine upon the Primate for ever and ever. And, at last, the Great Spirit would be banished for eternity!

Here are more fine words from Primate Fred. "A third moment of note from General Synod was the renewal of A Covenant toward the Constitutional Recognition and Protection of Aboriginal Self Government in Canada. The occasion was National Aboriginal Day, June 21st. It was an incredibly moving moment when my predecessor, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison and the former National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Ray Schultz, led a delegation representing nine Canadian churches and religious organizations in renewing commitments made at the initial signing of the Covenant years ago – truly a significant moment in the long road to self–determination."

Reality: these are very fine words indeed, but also empty rhetoric and totally meaningless. To support Self–Determination means to pay reparations, return stolen land and as Reverend Kevin Annett says, he wasn’t fired by the UCC for helping to expose the murders of First Nations people. Instead, it was his exposure of the colonial lust for land and resources, which continues to define our society’s relationship to its Aboriginal people that provoked such severe censure. As Annett states, "The Achilles heel here is the issue of the land." "In the course of my work with residential school survivors while I was still a Minister in Port Alberni," he explains, "I stumbled over the fact that the church had engaged in the theft and speculation of Aboriginal land in Ahousat, B.C., in order to profit its corporate benefactor, the logging company MacMillan–Bloedel." In October 1994, Annett wrote a letter to church officials expressing concern about the issue of stolen Native land. "A week later," he says, "Presbytery officials began meeting secretly with my church board to arrange my removal as Minister at St. Andrew’s."

My guess is that the issue of land is also key when it comes to the Catholics, Anglicans and Presbyterians. Self determination, yes in principal, but do not expect your land back and in any case all the natural resources are long gone along with the bones of your ancestors.

Primate Hiltz continues by trotting out ’The Apology’ offered by former Primate Michael Peers to the National Native Convocation in August, 1993.

Concluding the prayer, His Grace then takes solid aim at his own foot and pulls the trigger! Astoundingly; with a political naivety that brings tears to your eyes, Hiltz goes on to say: " In keeping with the terms of the settlement, Church and Government leaders continued negotiations resulting in an Amended Agreement that was ratified by the courts in the fall of 07. We acknowledge, with grateful thanks, the tremendous effort made by many people to achieve this agreement".

Reality: This is a totally mind–boggling statement illustrating the ACC’s true colours and the total lack of sincerity of their so–called ’apology’! Having recited Peer’s 1993 apology word for word, in the same breath Primate Hiltz goes on to congratulate the ACC lawyers and its miserly bean counters for their successful efforts to halve the church’s financial liability and deny compensation to its surviving victims. Here’s what happened: under an agreement with the federal government reached in 03, the ACC’s liability concerning the schools was capped at $25 million. Earlier last year, that accord was revised to reflect a more favourable agreement reached in 05 between Ottawa and the RCC. The Catholic’s fiendishly clever financial manoeuvring made them very difficult to bring to justice; Anglican officials immediately petitioned for their church’s liability to be reduced to less than $16 million. Obviously, the kidnapping, murder and subsequent physical, sexual and psychological abuse of our First Nation’s children rates as way, way less important to the ACC compared to ’The Money’ Here was yet another missed opportunity; a chance to look contrite; to pay up by digging into the coffers or by selling whatever was necessary: in Christian terms it’s called a penance! The legislated reduction in financial liability achieved through negotiations neither makes it ethical nor acceptable. It is unethical to deny adequate compensation to those whose have suffered; this is unacceptable. Worse of all, it is inappropriate if not utterly disgraceful to gloat over one’s successfully manoeuvering to shrink the church’s liability at the expense of damages due to the victims.

Parsimoniously, our Primate continues, "We rejoice that common experience payments are now being issued to former Residential Schools students".

Reality: Rejoice? For whom? Those payments are already pitifully small [$8,000.00 to $,000.00] and available funds have been reduced by almost half by the Anglican Amending Agreement; as a result of "The Tremendous Effort" made by the ACC to avoid any financial responsibility. Note: the bishops of the ACC pocketed a tidy sum [$3 million plus] during 07 in salary alone with excellent benefits on top of this figure. I think that it is fair to ask them, in light of the Indian Residential Schools Amending Agreement of 07, "How in the world do you people manage to sleep at night?"

Finally, our hero affirms the Prime Minister’s intention to make an apology on behalf of the Federal Government to all First Nations Peoples in Canada. Everyone knows that here is the oldest trick in the political primer aimed at deflecting responsibility away from you; however, it is also totally irrelevant to the ACC’s situation and simply a red herring!

Reality: firstly, Harper, as an election hopeful, proved that he does not even understand the difference between East Indian people and people of First Nations descent. Secondly, due to the liability issues, it will be a frosty Friday in hell when the government of Canada apologizes to anyone, and no such intention by Harper has been announced! But what of the Anglicans and Primate Hiltz, will they apologize and will they return the remains of those that they buried in secret? Well, apart from Peers’ speechifying back in 1993, here’s how they say sorry in November of 07 and I quote the Anglican Journal and Ms. Ellie Johnson, director of the Anglican Church’s "Tremendous Effort" department, who represented the church in negotiations over the new deal which snatched back nearly half of the First Nations’ compensation . "The Anglican church operated 26 of 80 boarding schools attended by aboriginals from the mid–19th century into the 1970s. In recent years, hundreds of natives had sued the church and the federal government, which owned the schools, alleging physical and sexual abuse."

The Anglican Church of Canada dismisses the genocide of out First Nation’s children as "allegations". For the record, the federal government will also likely dispute the ACC’s suggestions regarding ’ownership’ of the schools.

Ironically, and for the record, Primate Peers concluded his apology in 1993 by saying: "I know how often you have heard words which have been empty because they have not been accompanied by actions. I pledge to you my best efforts and the efforts of our church at the national level, to walk with you along the path of God’s healing."

Fifteen years later the white man still speaks with a forked tongue and money is indeed the root of all evil, and the Anglican Church of Canada and its money are not easily parted! Empty words it has aplenty and fine ones they are; however Primate Hiltz, your actions speak so much louder than those fine words.

Last word to an Indian Residential Schools survivor from Vancouver: "No one was there for us as children. I STILL PAY FOR IT TODAY! I am tired of paying: you take the nightmares, the flash backs, the sleepless nights, the insecurity and then foist it on your children because of your lack of ’life skills’. You grow up expecting nothing from life because of it! I know many of these people and can appreciate and share what they have experienced. Once you hit the system as a helpless child the system usually hits back, with both fists! I have experienced it and seen the abuse of others with my own eyes. Every day I fight not to give in to crutches of any ilk. I am lucky and stronger than some. I still do not really understand the meaning of family and it has left me with an indescribable ache that will never leave because it is too late. I have seen how real families live and no matter how I try to fit in, in this world, I still feel like a misfit and I still at times am ashamed of my darker coloured skin . Those of you who are crying over taxes do not blame anyone but the system that started this; with a scream."

God gave each of us a conscience and the Holy Spirit speaks to all if one should care to heed Her leading. Listen, do what is ethically right despite the consequences to you or the organization that you represent, make reparations and right wrongs. We are called to proclaim God’s way and justice, and through our actions and compassion bring about love, mercy and healing to the broken world. Most of all, we must make sure this: that no one ever preys on the defenceless and ’different’ ever again.

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