A Letter to the Territory. May 28, 2021

The Territory of the People Anglican Church

The Rt. Rev Lincoln Mckoen
Bishop, Territory of the People 360 Nicola Street
Kamloops BC V2C 2P5

Office Coordinator: Margaret Mitchell

Web: territoryofthepeople.ca

Email: bishop@territory.anglican.ca
Email: office@territory.anglican.ca
Email: finance@territory.anglican.ca Ph: (778) 471-5573
Fax: (778) 471-5586

28 May 2021

Friends,

Like many of you, I have read and heard the news reports regarding the discovery of hundreds of remains at the site of the former Kamloops Residential School.

As the Territory of the People, we grieve these and all losses that happened in this terrible system. We grieve the intergenerational trauma that the Residential School system continues to inflict. We grieve an unjust system that continues to victimize and de-humanize the First Peoples of this land.

The legacy of the Residential School system is one that will take generations to process: Genocide cannot be undone or healed overnight. Our repentance as Anglicans for our part in this terrible legacy has not stopped: Repentance is a process, not a single event. The dissolution of the former Diocese of Cariboo and its evolution from APCI into the Territory of the People was only a beginning.

We, as the Territory of the People, as individual followers of Jesus Christ, and as human beings,
will continue to commit ourselves to the process of healing and reconciliation. This will involve continued change for many of us and we must not be afraid to become better than what we are now.

We also demand the Federal Government of Canada adopt the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, to continue to adopt and implement the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and to implement the findings of the MMIW inquiry. The Federal Government cannot continue to play politics with the lives of the First Peoples, and ignore good faith agreements and signed Treaties, whilst condemning other countries for the same wrongs.

We pray for peace and healing for the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓ pemc, for peace and healing for all
Indigenous peoples in the Territory and across Canada affected by the Residential School system. We pray for the souls of the children lost in this terrible system. We pray for ourselves, that we may never lack courage in facing the past as we work for the future.

In Christ,
+Lincoln
Lincoln Mckoen
Bishop, Territory of the People