The Release

By Belinda
On Saturday morning we gathered again; those of us honoured to be in the middle of this profoundly important moment in our nation's history. A huge step of healing had taken place the night before, as church leaders knelt in repentance before aboriginal leaders. I carried a note book with me, scratching away in the dark--inadequate words--my limited attempt to capture thoughts and impressions that I felt so incapable of expressing. I wrote:

As a direct result of what happened last night, a healing took place in hearts. Bondage to the past was broken. Forgiveness was extended to the Church of Canada, symbolically and fully; from the heart.

An elder métis spoke these words in response to the repentance of the Church leaders the night before:
"I saw a genuine heart exposed. There has been deep, deep, hurt. Some of us couldn't understand why our parents would send us to day and residential schools, but they took the Church as the ultimate authority--Mother stopped speaking the Michif language."

He went on, "While there was bad, God also worked good. The gospel was heard, but at a terrible cost. The Church of Canada released us from anger, resentments and judgments as a result of last night."

And he shared this scripture:

Psalm 130:3-4 (New International Version)
3 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness;

I felt as though I was on Holy ground as weeping and wailing spontaneously broke out throughout the auditorium--the cries of a people releasing, and being released from, grief. It was noisy and unscheduled. There was no urgency to fit this into a strictly planned timeframe. They had come to this place to do business with God and man, and, as Chief Kenny Blacksmith said on Friday night, "We don't know exactly what is going to happen and everything is subject to change." There was a freedom in stepping into a culture that is not in bondage to the hands of the clock, and in simply allowing things to unfold as God would have them unfold.

This beautiful psalm was read when the Freedom Journey was launched in Vancouver earlier this year. How appropriate it seems for this people's journey of freedom:
Psalm 126 (New International Version)

1 When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
3 The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6 He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him.

Twenty four elders; survivors of residential schools; and twelve young people; children of survivors, signed the Charter of Forgiveness and Freedom, to be presented to the Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada, on Saturday afternoon.

Chief Kenny Blacksmith reminded people that, "Forgiveness is personal and individual, but we have made the decision to come together to spur one another on to good things."

"This is your healing; your freedom,' he said, "We hope and pray for those that aren't ready, to be ready,"  reminding us that the release was not from the memory of the past, but from its pain and the sting.

To be continued...