Rev Jason Johnson Addresses Sask Synod Lutherans

In relation with our First Nations Neighbours
We at St John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Laird, Saskatchewan are very much like most of you reading this today. Our history is just like most Lutheran Churches in Saskatchewan. A few settles came looking for land that was suitable for settlement. They found it about 30 minuets north of Saskatoon. They send word back home and in the next few years 10-15 families immigrated in order that they may homestead. They cleared land, built their homes, their barns, their school and of course their church. Life was very good and they prospered.
But our history at St John’s has a little different beginning. Prior to settlement this land was a part of the Treaty 6 agreement between the Crown and the First Nations Community. With in the Laird district land was give over to be a small reserve for Chief Young Chipewyan and his Band. Because of the situation at the time, maybe it was the battle at Batoche, the dwindling buffalo herds, the nomadic lifestyle this land was not lived on, there was no formal settlement established. And so the land that had been set aside was taken back and turned over for settlement.
We love our land, we have raised our children, buried our dead. Many of the farms in the area are still run by descendants from those original families. The community and life that has been etched out of this land has been good. Many would change nothing. Yet through all of this there has been this uncomfortable relationship with those decedents of Chief Young Chipewyan
Through history we have been joined together. We did not seek it, we did not try to establish it, simply we were brought together by events of history, and we exist in relationship. This relationship has not always been very good. There has been lots of conflict and hard feelings. There has been fear, anger and mistrust and I would say maybe a little hatred. The hurt goes deep and the fear even deeper. We have struggled as a community and as a church.
In 2006 we received an invite to a meeting with the Mennonite community and with descendants from the Young Chipewayan Band. The meeting was short and simple. A request, to join in the celebration of the 130th anniversary of the sign of treaty six, the celebration that would begin in our community, begin on the very land that our church had been build, the very land where our Cemetery exists.
History is not very favourable when one begins to look at the issues of land claim and treaty rights. There are not many examples that one can hold up as a model. Yet that was/is our issue.
It is easy to be in a conflictual relationship if there are hundreds of kilometres separating you. But to have it in on your door step, to actually be the hosts is another thing. But we journeyed forward. Our Church leadership accepted the responsibility and began to make plans. What occurred first was the need to accept that we ourselves need to do some work. We need to look at our own hurts and pains. We needed to confront our prejudice, fears, and our history. But most importantly we needed to reaffirm our faith, our trust in God and our calling as child of God, in mission
This is no easy task, but it is what our gospel calls us to do. To continue to be enslaved by our history and fears, to be in bondage to the unwillingness to look beyond ourselves to continue to miss out of the freedom that is Christ.
What ended up being an invitation to a gathering has really turned into a struggle with the issue of what it means to be in relationship with others. And we are still in that learn process.
We did gather in August 22, 2006. With the smells of sweat grass, Mennonite farmers sausage, germen potato salad, and bannock we broke bread. We began to learn about each others struggles, fears and hurts. And we began to understand each others strengths and gifts and we began to have a relationship.
It would be easy to forget everything now, we have had our day and things worked out purity good. But a relationship good or bad continues to grow. When we look around our community and our province our country, we see lots of neighbours, not just those we share a bond of land with. But those that are struggling, not just with the social issues of poverty and dependency, but those that seek justice and healing. And also those that have something to offer that can enrich our lives. Those that can help us to see belong our own walls.
We continue to have regular conversations with the Mennonite community and the First Nations Community. We have been enriched by our experience as we learned more about ourselves and what it means to be a community in relationship with all those in our midst’s. We continue to see opportunities where we can find ourselves growing in relationships to our first nations community and our Mennonite brothers and sisters.