Native Canadians and the United Church in Winnipeg

Publisher:  Research and Planning Council, Winnipeg Presbytery, United Church of Canada, Winnipeg, Canada
Year Published:  1973   First Published:  1973
Pages:  20pp  
Resource Type:  Article/Report/Letter
Cx Number:  CX17

A study of the status status of Ministries, Lodge and Indian workers, and recommendations.

Abstract:  Throughout the past few years, the church has been attempting to learn more about its effectiveness in ministering to various groups in our society. There has been a general recognition that as society changes more and more rapidly, so too must the church evolve its form of ministry to adapt to these changes. One of the great changes in the past ten years has been in the area of Native Canadians. This large group of people have emerged from recent history of oppression and mistaken strategies, imposed on them by the white man, to claim their rightful place as full citizens of Canada, with rich cultural and spiritual values. Indeed, there is much to suggest that the white man has more to learn from Indian values and history than has the Indian to learn from the white.

This study springs from the concern of the Home Missions Committee of Winnipeg Presbytery, and the staff of the ministries of the Presbytery that work with Native Canadians. The specific request came from the Home Missions Committee in June, 1971, as a second priority after the Institutional Missions studies which have been under way for the past year. The purpose of the study is threefold:
1. To provide a general outline of the present situation as it appears from the current literature.
2. To provide some tentative value and strategy statements on which any future actions by the presbytery might be based, at least for the next few years.
3. To provide some concrete actions that may be taken with respect to our present ministries, namely the Lodge and the Indian worker.
The strongest recommendation is that at the earliest possible date, the whole matter of the Ministry of the Church to Native Canadians be placed in the hands of these people themselves. Therefore the strategies all tend in this direction.

"A cry for justice rings out today
from the Native Peoples who inhabit
the Canadian North. Dramatically
on a Massive Scale the Native
Peoples of the North find themselves
and their way of life being
threatened by the headlong search
for New energy sources on this
continent."
C.C. BISHOPS LABOUR DAY MESSAGE
September 1, 1975

Subject Headings

• Aboriginal People
• Native Peoples
• Religious Issues
• United Church
• Winnipeg, Manitoba