Vol XVII. No. 7
Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019
GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: waholst@telus.net
This email is sent only to a voluntary subscriber list.
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write to me personally at - waholst@telus.net
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Dear Friends:
This week, my Special Item came from one of you,
my readers. I hope you find the effort challenging.
Please enjoy the other material I have located for you.
Wayne
PLEASE NOTE - If a link below, seems to be dead, cut and
paste it into the address bar at the top of your web page
and it should work.
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SPECIAL ITEM
My Colleagues List for September 5th (last week)
was entitled:
"Losing Our Public Heroes - A Good and a Bad Thing"
Open the link to it here:
I focused on two Canadian heroic figures from
Eastern and Western Canada - Protestant and Catholic -
who have been recently discredited for their part in the
development of residential schools.
They are:
Egerton Ryerson and Vital-Justin Grandin.
For background, please check the -
Wikipedia article on Egerton Ryerson
https://tinyurl.com/26mnxk98 (and the)
Wikipedia article on Vital-Justin Grandin
*****
Among several short responses I received a
lengthy commentary from a seminary
associate of mine from the 1960's -
Colleague John Horman, of Waterloo, ON.
In two letters, dated September 5th/6th, 2021
John wrote me:
Your newsletter raises the need for some more intensive
historical research, but also underscores the need not only
for reconciliation, which perhaps should come last, but also
reparations, restitution, restorative justice, and also, in
many cases, criminal investigation. Concentration on old,
dead Egerton Ryerson accomplishes none of these.
(I know nothing of Bishop Grandin beyond what you mention,
so nothing I have to say applies for or against him.)
But my curiosity was definitely raised when I heard that
But my curiosity was definitely raised when I heard that
Ryerson was the "architect", as many say, of the residential
school system. Since I have no access to primary documents
on the subject, I, at least, consulted some secondary sources.
You may have better information; if so, please let me know.
What my secondary sources inform me is as follows:
1) Ryerson was a close friend of some of the leaders of the Mississauga nation. He supported them in their struggle to retain their traditional territory on the Credit River, and was even accepted as an honourary member of the Mississaugas... As you probably know, this support was in vain; they were forcibly removed to a part of the Six Nations reserve near Brantford.
2) In cahoots with a leader of the Mississaugas, Ryerson planned a school where they could learn European style farming, thereby degrading those who attended to the level of most of our ancestors, in common with the vast majority of people living in Upper Canada at the time. (My grandfather (d. 1967) didn't believe any other kind of life had a secure future.)
3) As an Anishnaabe group the Mississaugas were not historically involved in farming, but rather in hunting. Hence to learn farming would require a cultural change. European style farming also for that matter in an aggressive activity, requiring fencing land that henceforth would not be useful for hunting. On the other hand, as we learn from Bruce Trigger, the Anishnaabe had already in the sixteenth century accommodated themselves with the Wendat people, trading hunted game for agricultural produce.
4) Ryerson did apparently provide for residential
accommodation for his students at the proposed school,
and hoped that the students would adopt Christianity.
But probably some research would be helpful to see how
he hoped to accomplish this, whether through aggressive
proselytizing and coercion or more subtle methods.
My guess is that his methods did not even come close to what
is alleged about some schools run by the Oblates.
But whatever we make of Ryerson's career, it should not be
allowed to distract from reparations to the descendants of the
indigenous inhabitants of the land. "Land acknowledgements"
are fine, but the subtext was always that nothing more is
needed. We admit that they had the land, but we have no
intention of returning even a square metre of it, so go tear down Ryerson's statue.
The problem with heroes and villains is not that the former
are a fast disappearing and endangered species while the
former are increasing with every stroke of the keyboard, but
that neither species actually exist. There is hardly anyone
who has lived any length of time or done anything of note
who has lived a life of such a nature as to have from every
possible point of view acted, spoken or thought in a way that
all honest observers must without fail describe as "good".
So the moral high ground goes to the anonymous "unco' guid
and rigid righteous" blogger, who, as far as anyone knows,
has never done anything...
Sir John A, of course, deserves a rough historiographical ride.
Apart from his actual policies regarding indigenous peoples,
he was somewhat corrupt, and often missing in action
because of his alcoholism. But still we need to qualify this
somewhat. He did, no be sure, mandate residential schools,
but it was after his time that they were made compulsory,
with the RCMP as designated truant officers. It is also highly
unlikely that he required that they be staffed only by
paederastic Oblate priests and sadistic nuns, or that bodies
be buried in unmarked graves to hush up what was being done.
And as for Ryerson, I doubt if he did any of these things.
There is much blame to go around for these schools, but
I think we should be a bit more accurate in the way we
distribute it.
- edited by Wayne Holst
(end)
John wrote from a decidedly eastern and Protestant point of view.
 |
*****
OTHER COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS THIS WEEK -
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.
Sermons and Blog,
September 6th, 2021
"Be Open"
--
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log,
August 20th, 2021
"The Highway of Increasing Decrepitude"
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site,
September 6th, 2021
"Under a Bridge in Austin"
*****
NET NOTES
9/11 BECAME A CATALYST FOR
INTER-FAITH RELATIONS AND CO-OPERATION
Some Anti-Muslim, but Overall an Improvement
Religion News Service,
September 9th, 2021
--
US EPISCOPAL BISHOP MICHAEL CURRY
SPEAKS TO COMMEMORATE 9/11
Twenty Years Since the Tragedy
Anglican Church of Canada Website
September 8th, 2021
--
CLIMATE CHANGE IS HERE
The Christian Century,
September 7th, 2021
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
From Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:
We are called to grow together in unity over time.
- Amanda Idleman
--
We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.
- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
--
Those who follow Jesus should love our neighbors to such a degree that we are willing to accept the consequences that come from struggling for shalom and true justice in the public square.
- Drew G. I. Hart
--
Because love is an act of courage, not of fear, love is a commitment to others. No matter where the oppressed are found, the act of love is commitment to their cause — the cause of liberation.
- Paulo Freire
- Paulo Freire
--
The world cannot fathom strength proceeding from weakness, gain proceeding from loss, or power from meekness. Christians apprehend these truths very slowly, if at all, for we are strongly influenced by secular thinking. Let’s stop and concentrate on what Jesus meant when he said that the meek would inherit the earth. Do we understand what meekness truly is?
- Elisabeth Elliot
--
Jesus’ words of blessing to the poor, marginalized, and downwardly mobile were not a threat or a coercion technique to force us into a miserable life. His call to go downward is a methodology for the abundant life. It is the easier yoke. If we crave God’s peace and presence, then I guess we have to trust his methods too. It’s easy to think more money, power, or status will give us security and a stronger sense of self, yet Jesus says it will be exactly the opposite: to find our lives we need to lose them (Matt. 10:39).
- Kathy Escobar
--
Stewardship involves the humble, often overlooked work of sorting through what has been broken and discarded, imagining how their pieces might fit together, and then fixing what we can. It is tempting to grow impatient with the task of mending and instead simply replace what has worn out. Our technological culture encourages us to see the new as a solution to our problems: throw away what’s broken and buy new; bulldoze old buildings for new construction; move away from fractured family or friendships and make new relationships.
- Jeffrey Bilbro
--
Children cannot become mature human beings by themselves. They experience our love and warmth as a cocoon that protects them from harm. They need us to set appropriate boundaries and guidelines, yet give them as much freedom to explore as they can handle. They need us to be both strong and compassionate, people who understand the importance of living a life that is good and beautiful and true. And they need our faith in their ability to find their own way in life, so they can fulfill their own unique purpose. In short, they need us to strive to become full human beings, so we can help them do the same.
- Joan Almon
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT - Jack Knox
Give us the courage, the patience, the serenity, the self-honesty, and the gentleness of spirit that are needed in a world filled with turmoil and terror.
(end)
*****
For Those Interested -
ACTS MINISTRY AUTUMN STUDIES AT ST.DAVID'S UNITED:
Monday Night Book Study - Sept. 20th - Nov. 29th 7-8:30 PM Zoom (10 weeks)
(no class on Thanksgiving Monday, October 11th)
Book Theme: "Starlight" by Richard Wagamese
**
Thursday Morning Bible Study - Sept. 23 - Nov. 25 10-11 AM
Zoom (10 weeks)
Bible Theme - "First Isaiah" (Isaiah chapters 1-39)
If you have questions, contact me at waholst@telus.net
(end)
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