How has the Church responded to the TRC’s final report and Calls to Action and to the Pope’s visit? The panel will reflect on the challenges of reconciliation – the aftereffects of the Doctrine of Discovery and of Canada’s assimilation policies on Indigenous peoples, ongoing obstacles to reconciliation as well as opportunities to advance it. What concrete evidence will demonstrate what healing actually looks like in practice and what is/should be the Church’s role in advancing healing? What lessons can we draw that will guide the Church’s actions on the path to truth and effective reconciliation.

Presenters:

Fr. Daryold Corbiere Winkler serves as Pastor of St. Basil’s Parish and assists in the Kateri Native Ministry in Ottawa. An Ojibway, and second-generation survivor of the Indian Day School and Residential School system, he believes the way forward for the Church, after the rescinding of The Doctrine of Discovery and the Papal apology, is to respond actively to the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

Peter Bisson, S.J., is a Jesuit priest in the Canadian Jesuit province. Based in Ottawa, he currently serves as the assistant to the Jesuit provincial for justice, ecology and Indigenous relations. He also participates in Kateri Native Ministry in Ottawa. From 2009 – 2015 he represented the Jesuits at meetings of the parties to the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

With contributions from Donna Naughton, Executive Director of the Kateri Ministry in Ottawa.