Your online guide to church responses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report

Where can you find, all in one place, the major responses from Christian organizations to the December 2015 final report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada on the history of residential schools for Canada’s Indigenous Peoples?

Where can you find, all in one place, the major responses from Christian organizations to the December 2015 final report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada on the history of residential schools for Canada’s Indigenous Peoples?

Here’s an attempt at collecting such a list.  For readers interested in digging deeper or organizing a study group, two especially good resources to start with are the Mennonite resource Wrongs to Rights (free samples online) and the spring 2016 issue of the Baptist periodical Mosaic (view complete issue free online).

You’ll notice many church responses refer to Action 48. The TRC final report included a list of 94 calls to action, and number 48 specifically calls “faith groups and interfaith social justice groups in Canada who have not already done so, to formally adopt and comply with the principles, norms, and standards of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework for reconciliation.”

The Four Churches That Ran Native Residential Schools

Joint response from Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and United Churches

• Response of the Churches to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, June 2015

United Church of Canada

• Statement on UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the Framework for Reconciliation, March 2016
• United Church Backgrounder on the TRC Calls to Action, June 2015

Presbyterian Church in Canada

• Presbyterian.ca/healing, links to various resources
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, links to various resources including a response to Call to Action 48

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

• Catholic responses to Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action 48 and questions regarding the “Doctrine of Discovery”, links to various resources including Catholic Response to Action 48 and to The “Doctrine of Discovery” and Terra Nullius: A Catholic Response

Anglican Church of Canada

• Anglican.ca/tr/, links to various resources including 1993 apology

Other Single-Denomination Groups

Canadian Baptist Ministries

• A mission organization that partners with four regional Baptist groups and two women’s groups
• Becoming Human: From Recognition to Reconciliation, Mosaicspring 2016 issue

Christian Reformed Church of North America

• CRC Commits to Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, June 2015
• CRC Offers Expression of Reconciliation, June 2012

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

• ELCIC Responds to Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action #48, March 2016
• Item above links to ELCIC Statement on Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Mennonite Church Canada

• Wrongs to Rights: How Churches can Engage the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2016
• Reconciliation Needs Us All, three-part video series exploring the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action, 2016
• What Do We Take Away From the TRC? editorial from Canadian Mennonite, 2015
• The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Mennonite Church Canada, 2010

Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

• Quaker Response on Call to Action #48, March 2016

Salvation Army

• Salvation Army Responds to UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples, March 2016
• Item above links to The Salvation Army Response to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Inter-Denominational Associations

Anabaptist Church leaders

• Includes Mennonite Church Canada, the Evangelical Mennonite Conference, the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, the Brethren in Christ Church of Canada, and Mennonite Central Committee Canada
• Statement of Anabaptist Church Leaders, March 2014

Canadian Council of Churches

• Document signed by 20 church groups, including some not listed elsewhere in this post: Apostolic Catholic, Christian Church/Disciples of Christ, Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Mar Thoma Church, Orthodox Church in America, Polish National Catholic Church, Reformed Church in America, Ukrainian Catholic, and additionally Citizens for Public Justice, Friendship Ministries, and Yonge Street Mission
• Expression of Reconciliation from The Canadian Council of Churches, 2016 re-issue of 2014 document

Citizens for Public Justice

• Statement from CPJ on TRC Calls to Action, March 2016

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada

• An association including more than 40 affiliate denominations(including many not listed elsewhere in this post: The Anglican Catholic Church, Anglican Network in Canada, Apostolic Church of Pentecost, Associated Gospel Churches, Canadian Church of God Ministries, Canadian Fellowship of Churches & Ministers, Canadian National Baptist Convention, The Christian & Missionary Alliance, The Church of God in Eastern Canada, Church of the Nazarene, Congregational Christian Churches, The Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples), Evangelical Covenant Church, Evangelical Free Church, Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference, Evangelical Missionary Church, Fellowship of Christian Assemblies, Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches, Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches, Foursquare Gospel Church, The Free Methodist Church, Grace Communion International, Grace Fellowship, Independent Assemblies of God, North American Baptists, The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland & Labrador, The Wesleyan Church, United Brethren Church, Vineyard Resource Canada, Vision Ministries Canada and (observer) Lutheran Church – Canada).
• Statement in Response to Call to Action #48, March 2016
• Hearing the Truth, Working for Reconciliation: Evangelical Leaders Reflect on the TRC Report, Sept. 2015

Interfaith Associations

Canadian Interfaith Conversation

• A group including many interdenominational Christian associationssuch as CCC, CBM and EFC as well as leaders of non-Christian religious bodies
• Statement on the Importance of Truth and Reconciliation and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, March2016
• The CIC offers its own collection of Action 48 responses

To add or correct this list, please contact editor@faithtoday.ca.

Bill Fledderus is a senior editor at Faith Today. Read our story about churches responding to the TRC report. Subscribe today for one of our best deals.