I was asked to contribute some work to a nationally published magazine. The theme of the issue is to be “respecting Indigenous spiritualities” (in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Calls to Action #60)
The Call to action is:
60. We call upon leaders of the church parties to the Settlement Agreement and all other faiths, in collaboration with Indigenous spiritual leaders, Survivors, schools of theology, seminaries, and other religious training centres, to develop and teach curriculum for all student clergy, and all clergy and staff who work in Aboriginal communities, on the need to respect Indigenous spirituality in its own right, the history and legacy of residential schools and the roles of the church parties in that system, the history and legacy of religious conflict in Aboriginal families and communities, and the responsibility that churches have to mitigate such conflicts and prevent spiritual violence.
This is a decidedly heavy and intrinsicly important topic for healing in our community if any type of reconcilliation is possible. I chose to go a darkly humourous route. Perhaps I will burn in hell…if there is a hell. My thought behind these works is simple, “to respect is to embrace, adopt, implement, and hold in the highest esteem symbols of the First Nations and Indigenous communities.” I focused on what that would look like visually. What would be a first step? Would it be Metis Beadwork on the Pope’s Mitre? Would it be replacing steeples with Totem poles? Would it be finding a new use for the cross?
The magazine will be out May 19, 2017 I will keep you posted.
Arlea Ashcroft 
You are outstanding! Wow!
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