September 30 is National Orange Shirt Day. It is an opportunity to create meaningful discussion about the effects of Residential Schools and the legacy they have left behind. A discussion all Canadians can tune into and create bridges with each other for reconciliation. A day for survivors to be reaffirmed that they matter, and so do those that have been affected.
In addition to wearing an orange shirt, you can invite conversation by reading “Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls“.
The Presbyterian Church in Canada has released a study resource, Why Work To Decolonize?, produced in collaboration between the PCC’s National Indigenous Ministries Council and the Life and Mission Agency (Justice Ministries), engages the overall themes of the final report of the Inquiry. It aims to help people understand those themes and learn what can be done, both by individual Christians and in wider society, to pursue justice and reconciliation going forward. It can be used as an orienting resource and catalyst to read and work through the National Inquiry’s final report itself.
The Canadian Council of Churches
Project Ploughshares
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity