Aboriginal Neighbours
MCCA continues to have a program area called Aboriginal Neighbors.
Our advisory group has met several times with staff to talk about
program and we agree that our emphasis continues to be supportive
of Aboriginal communities when we have such a role to offer. Primarily
though, we consider our role as a provider of information about
Aboriginal communities to Mennonite communities so that awareness
can be increased and we can learn from eachother.
MCC has not placed any volunteers in Aboriginal Communities this
year, though we remain open to doing so if the offer comes from
a community. The national MCC gardening project does not exist anymore,
and we, with other provinces, have moved more to a role where we
hope to provide educational material to our own constituencies about
issues with hopes that our respective communities can better understand
one another.
Rod Wilson, a volunteer from Edmonton, has agreed to do some traveling
during the next year to Alberta Aboriginal communities to meet,
to write about, and to work at building bridges between MCC, Mennonite
communities, and Aboriginal communities.
Highlights
Rod Wilson attended a workshop in Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan,
last April, which addressed three aspects of the nature of treaties
between Aboriginal populations and newcomers:
1)Upon signing of a treaty, natives held a ceremony of consecration,
which meant that they understood the treaty to involve not only
them and the newcomers but also the Creator.
2)Long before the treaties which the British made with native Canadians,
the Aboriginal communities had protocols for encountering strangers
and for engaging in orderly sharing with them.
3)It is not merely that the treaties give Natives some particular
rights; the treaties constitute the base from which non-Native Canadian
society springs. For the majority of non-Native Canadians, the fundamental
basis of their right to own property in Canada and to enjoy the
fruits of this land is to be found in the treaties.
MCC continues to seek the involvement of constituents in discerning
our ministry in this cross-cultural program area.
Abe Janzen - Executive Director
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