Enduring Faith Among Indigenous Peoples

Last summer, fires were started in a few churches in the West, after revelations about unmarked graves found near former Aboriginal residential schools. But the apologies of Pope Francis, at the beginning of April, moved the communities. Portrait of Aboriginal Christianity in the country.

Mathieu Perreault
The Press

sage and drums

When he arrived at York University for his studies in music, Roger Twance was appointed president of the Native Students Association. He first organized the first pow-wow in the history of the establishment of Toronto. “I saw the grand entrance of the participants with the costumes, the sage and the drums and I was taken back to the Catholic Rouyn of my childhood”, explains the 45-year-old man, who is a doorman at the Notre-Dame chapel. Dame-de-Lourdes in the Latin Quarter. “The feather headdress was like the mitre. There were sticks, clothes that looked like the chasuble. »

A quarter of a century later, Mr. Twance is organizing Indigenous Masses in Montreal that bring together the two traditions. “We burn sage instead of incense, there are drums and indigenous songs at the entrance and during times of prayer. Last year, M.^gr Faubert [un évêque auxiliaire] was the celebrant and we prayed for Joyce Echaquan, Raphael André [mort une nuit d’hiver pendant le couvre-feu, au début 2021] and children who died in residential schools. The parents of Mr. Twance, who plans to become a deacon, were Ojibway from Ontario. He was himself raised by his grandparents, his mother’s white adoptive parents.

The ancestors

The importance of Elders in Indigenous communities is curbing the disaffection of young adults with the Catholic Church, according to several Indigenous Catholics interviewed by The Press. “In Aboriginal cultures, grandparents are very involved in the education of children, and today’s elders have had very strong ties with missionary priests,” explains Cristino Bouvette, a Cree and Métis priest from Calgary. “When university students come home for Easter, they often accompany their grandparents to mass. »

Mr. Twance even thinks that this partly explains the devotion to Saint Anne, the grandmother of Jesus, whose feast in July is the occasion of dozens of Aboriginal pilgrimages to Canada. Pope Francis said in early April that he would like to visit Indigenous Canadians at this time.

The weight of the elders even delays the integration of native traditions into the Catholic liturgy. Marie-Josée Wapistan is an Aboriginal spirituality leader from Natashquan. In particular, it organizes full moon ceremonies in sweat lodges, as well as sun dances. She explains that the elders of Natashquan oppose the integration of these traditions into the pilgrimage to the “Montagne Bleue” for Sainte-Anne. “We had a very strict priest here and the elders were marked, says M^me Wapistan. We respect elders. We go to mass with them as they wish. On Sundays, we go to church here and then we listen to mass at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. »

Africa and North Shore

Ali Nnaemeka is one of two Oblate priests from Africa who work with the Innus of the North Shore. Arrived here nearly ten years ago, he is fascinated by the parallel between Christianity among the Aboriginal peoples and that of African countries. “We are people who are victims of colonialism, but in Nigeria and in Africa in general, people choose either Christianity or traditional spirituality,” Fr. Nnaemeka said. Here, Christianity is really integrated, or at least it coexists with the Church. This is good, because we are trying more and more to anchor the liturgy in local practices. So, we can not only do masses with sage and drums, dances, but also baptisms in the open air. »

Many anthropologists have noted that 100 years ago, indigenous peoples who were still nomadic often gathered in the summer near waterways to meet in groups and celebrate births and marriages. Oblate missionaries often took advantage of these occasions to evangelize them.

Eva Solomon is a good example of this fusion. “I am a Catholic nun, but also a bearer of the sacred pipe and I practice sweating ceremonies,” explains the Anishnabe from Ontario, who is a member of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.

Our father in Innu

Among the adaptations of Christianity to Aboriginal culture, theologian Anne Doran notes that the Our father is slightly different in Innu. Instead of “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”, we say: “Forgive us when we have offended you as you forgive those who have offended us”.

“In the Innu culture, each person has a personal spiritual element within them,” says the theologian from the Dominican Pastoral Institute. So the relationship with God is direct, personal, constant. » M^me Solomon adds that the Anishnabe concept of the “seven grandfathers,” which exemplify desirable virtues, can be compared to the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments.

For his part, Roger Twance has always been struck by the similarity between the creation of the world in the Bible and Aboriginal traditions. “We’ve been here for 10,000 years and we have the exact same design,” says Twance. Anishinabe means “created out of nothing”, like when God created Adam and Eve. »