Indigenous Ministries
In an effort to hear the voices of our Indigenous brothers and sisters as shared through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action 60, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada is seeking through this website to promote education and awareness within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, for the purpose of understanding our place in the truth and reconciliation efforts in Canada.
These efforts will include collaboration with Indigenous nations, spiritual leaders, Survivors, and other Indigenous Peoples to educate staff in our denominational organizations and entities, our Canadian membership, and especially those church members who work and live in Indigenous communities. The focus will be on the "need to respect Indigenous spirituality in its own right, the history and legacy of residential schools and the roles of the church parties in that system, the history and legacy of religious conflict in Aboriginal families and communities, and the responsibility that churches have to mitigate such conflicts and prevent spiritual violence." (TRC Call to Action 60)
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada resolves to follow the Creator's teachings of living with humility, courage, respect, truth, honesty, love, and wisdom
with the Indigenous Peoples in Canada - a journey of hope, healing, and wholeness with all our relations.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada National Headquarters acknowledges that our office is situated on the traditional land of the Ojibwé/Chippewa, Haudenosaunee, and Huron-Wendat, and in the territories covered by the Williams treaty. It is also the present territory of the Mississauga of Scugog Island First Nation. We also acknowledge our churches and organizations across Canada are situated on traditional First Nations, Métis, and Inuit territories. We recognize as Canadians that we are all treaty people.
“. . . if you feel connected to the future of this country, and if you feel responsible for the future, then you need to care about reconciliation, for the sake of the future of this country.”
Justice Murray Sinclair
"All this is from the Creator, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation."
Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 5:18
". . . land acknowledgements are a necessary first step toward honouring the original occupants of a place. They also help Canadians recognize and respect Indigenous peoples’ inherent kinship beliefs when it comes to the land, especially since those beliefs were restricted for so long."
Selena Mills