Honouring the Truth Reconciling for the Future

The challenge of reconciliation • 249states and is independent of the fact that for the Church the document has hadno value for centuries. The refutation of this doctrine is therefore now under thecompetence of national authorities, legislators, lawyers and legal historians. 21For many, that Catholic statement was inadequate. The doctrine’s influence inWestern law and its destructive consequences for Indigenous peoples have been welldocumented by scholars and other experts. 22In 2014, the North American representative to the un Permanent Forum onIndigenous Issues, Grand Chief Edward John, tabled the “Study on the Impacts of theDoctrine of Discovery on Indigenous Peoples, Including Mechanisms, Processes, andInstruments of Redress.” The study concluded:With regard to land dispossessions, forced conversions of non-Christians, thedeprivation of liberty and the enslavement of indigenous peoples, the Holy Seereported that an “abrogation process took place over the centuries” to invalidatesuch nefarious actions. Such papal renunciations do not go far enough. Thereis a pressing need to decolonize from the debilitating impacts and ongoinglegacy of denial by states of indigenous peoples’ inherent sovereignty, laws, andtitle to the lands, territories, and resources. At the same time, there is a growingmovement among faith-based bodies to repudiate the doctrine of discovery. 23In 2010, the Anglican Church of Canada was the first of the Settlement Agreementchurches in Canada to reject the Doctrine of Discovery and to ”review the Church’spolicies and programs with a view to exposing the historical reality and impact of theDoctrine of Discovery and eliminating its presence in its contemporary policies, program,and structures.” 24 In 2013, the Anglican Church established a Commission onDiscovery, Reconciliation, and Justice, which had three goals:1) to examine the Anglican Church of Canada’s policies and practices andrevise them as necessary to be consistent with its repudiation of the Doctrineof Discovery;2) to look into the question of “what is reconciliation”; and3) to review the church’s commitment to addressing long-standing injusticesborne by Indigenous peoples in Canada.The Commission on Discovery will table a final report to the Anglican GeneralSynod in 2016. 25In February 2012, the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches(wcc) also repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery. The wcc represents over 500 millionChristians, in more than 110 countries, in 345 member churches, includingthree of the Settlement Agreement churches. 26 The wcc statement denounced theDoctrine of Discovery and urged governments to “dismantle the legal structures andpolicies based on the Doctrine of Discovery … [and to] ensure that they conform to