Honouring the Truth Reconciling for the Future

The challenge of reconciliation • 379reflections. At each event in or near the Learning Place, the Settlement Agreement churchesalso organized a Churches Listening Area. The intent was to provide an opportunity for thoseSurvivors who wished to do so to speak personally with a church representative about theirresidential school experience. When requested, church representatives also offered apologiesto Survivors.77. TRC, AVS, Alvin Dixon, Statement to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada,Inuvik, Northwest Territories, 30 June 2011, Statement Number: NNE302.78. TRC, AVS, Anonymous, Statement to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada,Winnipeg, Manitoba, 18 June 2010, Statement Number: 02-MB-18JU10-055.79. Kelly, “Confession of a Born Again Pagan,” 20–21, 39.80. TRC, AVS, Jennie Blackbird, Statement to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada,Muncey, Ontario, 16 September 2011, Statement Number: 2011-4188.81. The right of Indigenous peoples to observe traditional spiritual practices is upheld by theUnited Nations. Article 12:1 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoplessays, “Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practice, develop and teach theirspiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies; the right to maintain, protect, andhave access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites; the right to use and control of theirceremonial objects; and the right to the repatriation of their human remains.” See: United Nations,Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf.82. See, for example, the case of a Christian Cree community that passed a resolution denyingsome of its community members the right to construct a sweat lodge and to teach youthabout Cree spirituality: http://aptn.ca/news/2011/01/17/crees-ban-sweat-lodges-fns-spirituality-from-community/;http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/02/07/christian-crees-tear-down-sweat-lodge-15500.83. TRC, AVS, Jim Dumont, Statement to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada,Winnipeg, Manitoba, 26 June 2014, Statement Number: SE049.84. Dumont and Hutchinson, “United Church Mission Goals,” 226–227.85. Mullin (Thundering Eagle Woman), “We Are One in the Spirit,” 28, http://presbyterian.ca/healing/ (accessed 22 March 2015).86. Presbyterian Church of Canada, 2013 General Assembly Referral, Aboriginal Spirituality, 2, 6,http://presbyterian.ca/gao/2013referrals/ (accessed 22 March 2015).87. Anglican Church of Canada, “A New Agape,” http://www.anglican.ca/about/ccc/acip/a-newagape/(accessed 22 March 2015).88. United Church of Canada, “Living Faithfully,” 2, http://www.united-church.ca/files/economic/globalization/report.pdf(accessed 22 March 2015).89. United Church of Canada, “Reviewing Partnership,” 26, http://www.gc41.ca/sites/default/files/pcpmm_empire.pdf (accessed 22 March 2015).90. United Church of Canada, The Executive of the General Council, March 24–26, 2012, AddendumH: Covenanting for Life, http://www.united-church.ca/files/general-council/gc40/addenda_2012-03-2426_executive.pdf (accessed 22 March 2015).91. Presbyterian Church in Canada, “Presbyterian Statement,” https://ecumenism.net/2015/01/presbyterian-statement-on-aboriginal-spiritual-practices.htm (accessed 17 March 2015).92. United Church of Canada, “Affirming Other Spiritual Paths,” http://www.united-church.ca/files/aboriginal/schools/affirming-other-spiritual-paths.pdf (accessed 17 March 2015).