Spiritual Covenant with Six Nations
Two Row wampum belt
Land Justice Payment to Six Nations
June, 2024
As one step in responding to the invitation into a Spiritual Covenant with people from Six Nations, our congregation will be making symbolic lease or reparation payments to benefit the people of Six Nations. As Mennonites, we understand this call to be in the spirit of the biblical Jubilee principle of restoring right-relationships with each other, with the land and with God.
In 2024, our congregation approved a budget that includes a line for Land Justice, with the intent that this will be an ongoing budgeted item. The approved amount for 2024 is $4000, which represents 1% of our congregation’s operating budget. Members of Stirling will bring this payment to the Strawberry Thanksgiving and Communion at Six Nations on July 6. Ideally, future payments will be made as part of similar ceremonies to foster relationship-building between our communities.
In addition to the principle of Jubilee, our congregation has also used Isaiah 58, in particular the reference to repairing the breach in verse 12, to help frame our understanding of this step toward reconciliation.
“Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.” Isaiah 58:12 (NRSV)
Our Journey So Far
Spring 2022
For a little more than a decade, we as a congregation have been on a journey of trying to live into reconciliation with the Indigenous peoples of this land - learning what we can, building relationships and advocating for justice. Over the years, we heard Indigenous people tell us how important it was to deal with historical and current injustices in relation to the land. Over the last few years we have been exploring the biblical teachings around relationship to land, the stories of this land, and the ways we are implicated and bear responsibility for some of those historical and current injustices.
In 2022, we began to more fully consider a particular, unique and hopeful opportunity to address some of those land injustices. We have been offered an invitation to enter into a Spiritual Covenant with Six Nations. We invite you to join us in prayer and ongoing discernment as we consider this together. This is part of a longer discernment process, and a critical part of the conversation at Stirling. We are eager to hear from as many Stirling members as possible, recognizing there will be many different perspectives.
Background on Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church and the Spiritual Covenant is linked here
Spiritual Covenant Invitation is linked here.
Treaties Recognition Week and Land Justice — information for us to consider
Treaties Recognition Week highlights the importance of treaties and is an opportunity to learn more about treaty rights and relationships. Here are some resources and examples of land justice initiatives that we invite you to explore:
A video on the history of the Haldimand Tract featuring Phil Monture who is Mohawk from Six Nations of the Grand River and has spent more than 40 years researching this history
Information about the Six Nations of the Grand River litigation against Canada and Ontario.
Whose Land app - free to download
Reciprocity Trusts is a not-for-profit in BC that facilitates reciprocity payments from home owners, renter and businesses to local Indigenous nations
Got Land Back, an episode of Unreserved (CBC) that tells the story of a successful return of land to a First Nation in BC.
Treaty Land Sharing Network connects farmers and Indigenous land users on Treaty 4 and Treaty 6 territory in Saskatchewan
The University of Waterloo now offers tuition waivers to students who are members the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and Six Nations of the Grand River, bands on whose traditional territory the University of Waterloo is situated