Land Acknowledgement

"As we gather to worship together, let us respectfully pause to remember we live and work and worship on lands that are, by law, the unceded territory of the original peoples, the Mi'kmaq. May we live with respect on the land, and live in peace and friendship with its people."

Background:
The Land Acknowledgement Sub-Team of the Christian Development Team at First United has been hard at work over the past two years researching Social Action themes important to our Faith Community.

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada published a list of 94 Calls to Action. One of these called for Churches to respond: 

"We call upon all religious organizations and faith groups who have not already done so to repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullis." - Call to Action #49

Why is this important to our church? What is our church called to do?
These questions led us to months of research and discussion, including our conversations and learning from a Traditional Knowledge Keeper from Pabineau First Nation.

We shared some of this new knowledge during "Sharing a Story Time" on April 17th, April 24th and May 1st.
In addition, our Bulletins for April 17th, April 24th and May 1st included Huckleberry's Highlights.

We encourage everyone to visit the United Church of Canada website for more information about Reconciliation and Indigenous Justice at https://united-church.ca/social-action/justice-initiatives/reconciliation-and-indigenous-justice.