The Presbyterian Church in Canada grieves with Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, who has released news that the unidentified graves of 215 children have been found on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, as well as all those who lost family, friends or community members to Indian Residential Schools—for whom this news brings devastating pain, trauma and loss.
Dr. Allyson Carr, Associate Secretary of Justice Ministries, has written on the death of Joyce Echaquan, an Indigenous woman in a hospital in Quebec, and the racist words that were spoken to her by the hospital workers she was in the care of—words which illuminate the unacceptable and condemnable behaviour that is often permitted in our society as a result of systemic racism.
This reflection by the moderator speaks to the importance of participating in Orange Shirt Day on September 30 to remember and honour the Indigenous children who attended Indian Residential Schools, and reflects on the PCC’s involvement in the Residential School System and its inter-generational impacts on Indigenous children today.
Why Work To Decolonize? is a study resource produced in collaboration between the PCC’s National Indigenous Ministries Council and the Life and Mission Agency (Justice Ministries) that engages the overall themes of the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Following the recent deaths of Indigenous people during encounters with law enforcement, the PCC calls for an immediate end to violence against Indigenous Peoples.
