February 27 gathering on unmarked burials: gratitude for all who participated
Many thanks to the 70 plus people from across Alberta and beyond who attended Our Sacred Obligations gathering on February 27, online and in person.
We learned and talked together in circle, and were privileged to hear from Rev John Snow, a United Church minister who survived residential school; his brother Rev Tony Snow; elder Wilson Bearhead, and Sara Stratton, the national church’s justice and reconciliation animator. We offer gratitude and respect to every First Nations and Métis person who brought their experiences and knowledge to the circle; over one third of the participants were Indigenous.
Thank you to every non-Indigenous person made the choice to be in this listening and learning space. Special thanks to the planning team, the Edmonton Being Good Relations Cluster, Northern Spirit Regional Council, and the deeply hospitable community of Southminster Steinhauer United Church/ Spiritual Seekers United in Community. This gathering needed much support and commitment to make it into a good space, and we were blessed to have that support.
As always, we ran out of time for everything, and one follow up will be supports for engaging settler denialism of unmarked burials and the impacts of residential schools. Here is a PDF of Sara’s presentation, which we hope will give a broad overview of the report on unmarked burials and missing children. Our work will continue together.
If you have any questions or ideas, please contact staff support Julie Graham, jgraham@united-church.ca, and she will put you in touch with resource people who are continuing to carry these commitments.
