"Traditional Mix of Ordination"

It was an ordination unlike any other in the United Church, blending traditional Native spirituality and traditional liturgy.

Four ordinands, Sanday Scott of Winnipeg, Solomon Meekis of Deer Lake, Man., Raymond Eaglestick of Little Grand Rapids, Man., and Allan Sinclair of Beren's River, Man., were drummed in to the annual Grand Council of the All Native Circle Conference (ANCC) meeting at the Moraviantown reserve in southwestern Ontario.

At the centre of the circle was a sacred bundle including a talking stick, cross, Bible, pipe, and sweetgrass. The ANCC elders smudged the ordinands with sage, bringing them into the circle with a prayer in Cree. But there was also a communion service and the traditional laying on of hands, as the ANCC celebrated its first-ever annual meeting ordination.

"We've been wrestling with this as a Conference," says ANCC Speaker Rev. Alf Dumont. "A couple of years ago we wouldn't have been able to do what we did here. Because of the dialogue we've had, people can accept the Native traditions as well."

The original claim was made in 1939, Fr. Johnson relates. The Lubicon have waited 54 years for resolution. The situation is desperate. The commission established in 1992 by the Leader of the Official Opposition Ray Martin, was to release its report last month.

McKay is introduced by Phipps, who reads the United Church Apology to Native People. Sarah Phipps, 17, a dancer and teacher at the Edmonton School of Ballet, performs a liturgical dance to the reading.

McKay begins his address with a passage from Arthur Solomon's book, Songs for the People, which begins "We are living in very troubled times..." He proceeds to a passage from Mark, the story of the Syrophoenician woman's faith.

"We have found every way possible to deny some persons access to the table. At the table of life, in the wider spectrum, it would seem that in the history of many nations in the world, there is a certain definition as to whom is acceptable, who can come and participate with dignity, with humility, but with respect.

"Tonight I honor the Lubicon nation. The women of that nation would say to us, 'Are we dogs? Do we not have access to the table of justice and hope?' I honor those women and those little children with whom I sat yesterday."

The Lubicon of Little Buffalo are not an isolated case of injustice. They are a small piece of the global crisis that involves each person on Earth. It is good that McKay visited them and that he is willing to help Canadians inside and outside The United Church of Canada gain the courage to ask the right questions.