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Violence, Religion, Peacemaking pp 119–136Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Historical and Ecological Injustices Through the Lens of Genocide: The United Church of Canada’s Acts of Contrition and the Project to Decolonize North America

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Part of the book series: Interreligious Studies in Theory and Practice ((INSTTP))

Abstract

This chapter outlines the linkage between historical and ecological injustices in the contemporary discourses of Canada’s United Church. The first section identifies the Church’s historical role in the Indian residential school system and its contemporary acts of contrition through the framework of restorative justice. The second section concerns the nature of intensive resource extraction in northern Canada and the Church’s effort to resist such destructive activities through the lens of ecological justice. The third section considers how the term genocide, which has otherwise been avoided by the Church, can be used in these contexts. Despite the apparent misgivings of the United Church in using this provocative term, the keyword of genocide has analytical value as a rhetorical device, capturing the experiences of Indigenous peoples. As such, the conclusion reflects on how the United Church may benefit from incorporating the language of genocide in its related initiatives for historical and ecological justice.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The United Church of Canada, Living Faithfully in the Midst of Empire: Report to the 39th General Council 2006 (Toronto: United Church of Canada, 2007), available at http://www.united-church.ca/economic/globalization/report.

  2. 2.

    Steger (2009) and Moghadam (2013 [2009]).

  3. 3.

    The United Church of Canada, “Economic Justice: Globalization and Empire,” last modified August 13, 2014, http://www.united-church.ca/economic/globalization.

  4. 4.

    Regan (2010).

  5. 5.

    Alfred (2005), pp. 19–38.

  6. 6.

    Veracini (2010), pp. 104–116 and Johnston and Lawson (2000), p. 365. See also Deloria (1998).

  7. 7.

    Wolfe (2006), pp. 387–409.

  8. 8.

    “Statistics,” The United Church of Canada, last modified June 5, 2013, http://www.united-church.ca/organization/statistics.

  9. 9.

    When used with italicized font, as in genocide, the term is being referred to not in a literal sense, as in examining the phenomenon itself, but in a rhetorical sense, as in how it is used through discourse as a persuasive device. For a similar convention, see Bechky (2012), p. 551 and Boghossian (2010), p. 80. More generally, see Moses (2013), pp. 23–44. For the meaning of genocide, see Benvenuto, Woolford, and Hinton (2014) and Benvenuto (2015).

  10. 10.

    White (2011 [1991]).

  11. 11.

    Peterson and Brown (1985) and Devine (2004).

  12. 12.

    Daschuk (2013).

  13. 13.

    Brantliner (2003) and Barta (2005), pp. 116–137.

  14. 14.

    Pratt (1973), p. 261.

  15. 15.

    Miller (1996), Milloy (1996), and Chrisjohn and Young (2006).

  16. 16.

    Quoted in Titley (1986), p. 50.

  17. 17.

    Dumont and Hutchinson (2012), p. 223.

  18. 18.

    The factum, press release, and Supreme Court decision are available at “Barney v. Canada (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) and United Church of Canada [Blackwater v. Pint],” Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, http://leaf.ca/cases/barney-v-canada-minister-of-indian-affairs-and-northern-development-and-united-church-of-canada/. See also, the United Church, “Settling Abuse Claims,” Last modified June 4, 2007, http://www.united-church.ca/aboriginal/schools/faq/settling. The case is also discussed in Thielen-Wilson (2014), pp. 181–197.

  19. 19.

    Niezen (2013), pp. 18–20.

  20. 20.

    The United Church of Canada, “Apology to First Nations Peoples (1986),” Last modified November 29, 2007, http://www.united-church.ca/beliefs/policies/1986/a651.

  21. 21.

    Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Apology on Residential Schools by the Catholic Church,” http://www.cccb.ca/site/eng/media-room/files/2630-apology-on-residential-schools-by-the-catholic-church.

  22. 22.

    Neizen, Truth and Indignation.

  23. 23.

    “Prime Minister Harper Offers Full Apology on Behalf of Canadians for the Indian Residential Schools System,” (June 11, 2008), http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=2149.

  24. 24.

    Woolford (2013), p. 69.

  25. 25.

    The United Church of Canada, “Principles to Guide Our Response in Resolving the Legacy,” Last modified July 30, 2008, http://www.united-church.ca/aboriginal/schools/statements/principles.

  26. 26.

    The United Church of Canada, “Ecology,” Last modified August 14, 2013, http://www.united-church.ca/ecology.

  27. 27.

    Dumont and Hutchinson, “United Church Mission Goals and First Nations Peoples,” p. 231 and Hutchinson (1992).

  28. 28.

    resources.mennonitechurch.ca/FileDownload/7089/A_New_Covenant.pdf.

  29. 29.

    Borrows, Canada’s Indigenous Constitution, pp. 177—218.

  30. 30.

    This is explicated in Articles 8 and 25—29 in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).

  31. 31.

    Project North, “A New Covenant: Towards the Constitutional Recognition and Protection of Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada: A Pastoral Statement by the Leaders of the Christian Churches on Aboriginal Rights and the Canadian Constitution,” Mennonite Church Canada Resource Centre, http://resources.mennonitechurch.ca/ResourceView/5/9530.

  32. 32.

    KAIROS, “Who We Are,” http://www.kairoscanada.org/who-we-are/.

  33. 33.

    KAIROS, “Drawing a Line in the Sand: Drawing a Line in the Sand: Why Canada Needs to Limit Tar Sands Expansion and Invest in a Green Economy,” Last modified 2010, available for download at http://www.kairoscanada.org/sustainability/tar-sands/2009-church-leaders-delegation-to-the-tar-sands/.

  34. 34.

    Deffeyes (2005).

  35. 35.

    Price (1999).

  36. 36.

    “Pictures: Satellite Views of Canada’s Oil Sands over Time,” National Geographic, Last modified December 22, 2011, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/12/pictures/111222-canada-oil-sands-satellite-images/#/alberta-tar-oil-sands-satellite-pictures-1984_46159_600x450.jpg.

  37. 37.

    Jacques (2009), p. 73.

  38. 38.

    Mike Mercredi, “Slow Industrial Genocide,” The Dominion: News from the Grassroots, Last modified November 23, 2008, http://www.dominionpaper.ca/audio/mike_mercredi.

  39. 39.

    Huseman and Short (2012), pp. 216–237.

  40. 40.

    Quoted in Joshua Blakeney, “Idle-No-More Global Protests against Harper Government Continue,” Press TV (January 31, 2013), http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/31/286465/idlenomore-global-protests-against-harper-government-continue/.

  41. 41.

    See the photography of Gareth Lenz, “The True Cost of Oil,” http://www.garthlenz.com/#/touring-exhibit--the-true-cost-of-oil/editorial-42.

  42. 42.

    See “rape, v.2,” OED Online, December 2013, Oxford University Press.

  43. 43.

    Smith (2005).

  44. 44.

    MacDonald and Hudson (2012), pp. 427–449.

  45. 45.

    Chris Wood, “The United Church Confronts an Activist,” Maclean’s 109, no. 38 (September 16, 1996).

  46. 46.

    Annett (2001).

  47. 47.

    The United Church of Canada, “Kevin Annett and The United Church of Canada,” Last modified March 4, 2013, http://www.united-church.ca/aboriginal/schools/statements/annett.

  48. 48.

    Moses (2002), pp. 7–36 and Moses (2012), pp. 215–238.

  49. 49.

    Hinton (2012), pp. 4–15.

  50. 50.

    Winter(2006), pp. 393–413 and Powell (2007), pp. 527–547.

  51. 51.

    Latour (1993).

  52. 52.

    Hallowell (1960), pp. 19–52.

  53. 53.

    Whitt et al. (2001), pp. 3–20.

  54. 54.

    Hubbard (2014), pp. 292–305 and Laduke (1999).

  55. 55.

    Lemkin (1944), p. 79; “genocide,” etymology.com, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=genocide&allowed_in_frame=0 and “genus,” etymology.com, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=genus&allowed_in_frame=0.

  56. 56.

    See “nature,” etymology.com, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=nature&searchmode=none and “nation,” etymology.com, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nation&allowed_in_frame=0, accessed April 3, 2013.

  57. 57.

    This begs the question of whether genocide can or should be defined by consequences rather than (or in addition to) intent. See Barta (2000 [1987]), pp. 237–251.

  58. 58.

    Alfred, Wasáse, pp. 151–157.

  59. 59.

    Weil (2002 [1949]).

  60. 60.

    Regan, Unsettling the Settler Within.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA

    Jeff Benvenuto

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  1. Jeff Benvenuto
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  1. George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA

    Douglas Irvin-Erickson

  2. Georgetown University, Washington, USA

    Peter C. Phan

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Benvenuto, J. (2016). Historical and Ecological Injustices Through the Lens of Genocide: The United Church of Canada’s Acts of Contrition and the Project to Decolonize North America. In: Irvin-Erickson, D., Phan, P. (eds) Violence, Religion, Peacemaking. Interreligious Studies in Theory and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56851-9_7

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