CANADA
Anglican Communion News Service
[Anglican Journal] National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald said he is hopeful that the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) outlining concrete actions that would respect the sovereignty and integrity of Canada’s Indigenous peoples would help Indigenous Anglicans’ own struggle for self-determination within the Anglican Church of Canada.
What resonated with him the most in the report, said MacDonald in an interview, was its call for “a full and complete acceptance of the values, protocols and ideals of Indigenous people and their equal weight in governance, in life, in culture. It adds a lot of weight to what we’re trying to do.”
Indigenous Anglicans believe that “the Gospel, the living word of God, wants to be living and real in Indigenous life,” said MacDonald. “You can’t do that if you have no respect for Indigenous life.
“What we have looked for, hoped for and longed for in the church and in the larger society is something that this report asked,” he added. “What the TRC report describes so well is that Indigenous concerns are woven into the fabric of Canadian life so completely that you cannot have justice unless you have indigenous justice, and indigenous justice means justice for all.”
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