General News and Announcements

June 4, 2010

The first National Consultation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada will take place at the Forks in Winnipeg, Manitoba, from June 16 to 19, 2010.

Church members across Canada are asked to set aside Sunday, June 13, 2010, to pray for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its work:

• for survivors of Indian Residential Schools, for former school staff members, for commissioners, speakers, and all Canadians, that we may speak, hear, and act upon the truth, and that we as individuals and as a nation may meet the hope of a new beginning 

About the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Winnipeg Consultation

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada is part of a comprehensive response to the legacy of Indian Residential Schools as set out in the Residential Schools’ Settlement Agreement reached in May 2006. The Commission is mandated to look at activities within residential schools, as well as the impacts of the schools’ stated aim to assimilate Aboriginal children.

The National Consultation in Winnipeg will be an opportunity for survivors of residential schools, their families and communities, for church members, people of faith, and other concerned Canadians to gather for truth telling, learning and reflection, artistic expression, remembering and commemorating, healing, repenting, and reconciling.

Suggested Resources for Prayer and Reflection

The Truth and Reconciliation – Liturgical Resources [PDF: 8 pp/102 KB] document contains selected resources for use on June 13.

• Call to Reflection
• Covenant Collect
• Prayer for a Vision of New Beginnings
• Homily/Notes on the Lectionary Readings of the Day
• Quotations to inspire Meditations or Sermons
• Circle of Prayer
• A Prayer of Lamentation – Litany of the Dispossessed
• Eucharistic Prayer

For more information about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and related resources, please visit The Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

• Jamie Scott
  E-mail: Jamie Scott