Jewish Call to Healing and Action in Solidarity with Indigenous Communities
I grew up 15 km (~3 miles) from the Saint Paul’s Indian Residential School in North Vancouver, BC, Canada that was open from 1899 until 1958. It was never part of the curriculum in any of the Canadian schools that I went to: be it the Vancouver Talmud Torah for Elementary school, or Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School that I graduated from in 2003. It comes as no surprise then that 40% of Canadians report having little to no knowledge of Indian Residential schools in a recent poll reported in the Vancouver Sun on June 26th, 2021. This number goes up to 47% for people my age, in their 30s and 40s.
But every First Nations, Indigenous, and Métis person knew and knows about the schoolchildren who were murdered at Indian Residential Schools. 150,000 children were kidnapped from their homes every September, which was known as everybody cry month, to ‘Kill the Indian, Save the Man’. Every Christian priest and nun who stole, abused, and murdered these children believed that their cruelty and complete lack of humanity was God’s will. The government of Canada knew that to keep the land that they are on, they needed to kill the people who were there first because our ways are older, bigger, and in complete opposition to the ways of capitalist nations.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada estimates that there are 80,000 survivors of these schools. Canadians keep trying to frame these issues as being in the past, but the pain is felt very much in the present. The last of these schools didn’t close in Canada until 1997. There are 94 Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation Report, but not much progress has been made on them.
As I grieve with all of my relatives on Turtle Island for these children, I listened to the words of Theda NewBreast, a Blackfeet elder with the Native Wellness Institute. (Her Powerhour on the 215 children can be found here.) She said that the Creator is gifting us these awarenesses of truth. That we can do something to honor the spirits of those 215 children with ceremonies that help them to cross over the Milky Way so that their souls don’t get stuck. She also called for prayers of forgiveness for the Christian perpetrators. As soon as I heard these words, I knew that it wasn’t just the First Nations and Indigenous communities that needed healing, but all of us who live on this land. I am Indigenous to Turtle Island (my people are the Muisca people in current day Bogota, Colombia), but most members of the Jewish community who live here are not. Regardless of where we came from and why we came here, as Jewish people we can still use our ritual of immersing in a mikveh, a sacred body of water, to start healing. I propose that we use that ritual now in an act of solidarity and healing with First Nations, Metis, and Indigenous communities who are grieving and in pain.
The news of the recovery of 215 remains of the schoolchildren broke in late May, 2021 just a day before I was scheduled to immerse as part of my monthly practice. I was heartbroken but also numb. When I went into the water though, it worked its way into a crack in my heart so that I could begin to feel this enormous loss. In addition to my usual prayers and reflection, I found myself praying for the spirits of these children, for healing and justice for their families, and communities. The crack widened into a full blown waterfall as I sobbed in the arms of a friend the next day.
We all have water around us and within us that is healing. I propose that any Jew who wishes to honor the spirits of these Indigenous schoolchildren immerse in a mikveh anywhere in Turtle Island. Starting today, July 1st, 2021: Canada Day. In the spirit of the Queer Mikveh project and the Open Mikvehs of the Rising Tide Network, I think of mikveh expansively. I am not here to tell you how or where to immerse. (But if you have questions this section on the Mayyim Hayyim website, my home mikveh where I guide and immerse myself, should help) Just get yourself connected to a body of water, take a picture of your feet in the water and post it to social media with the hashtag #everychildmatters #jewsforeverychildmatters. Originally I thought this would be a call only for the month of Elul, July 2021, which is a month for grieving in the Jewish calendar. But there have been more and more remains discovered, and more are still to come. I think that this needs to be an ongoing effort in every Jewish community on Turtle Island.
My hope is that this will break through the isolation that surrounds grief so that Indigenous peoples know that non-Indigenous peoples care and stand in solidarity with them in this time of grief. But that the Jewish community is also willing to do its part for truth and reconciliation. Click here to see some actions steps that you can also take, and organizations that you can donate to from the Cowessess Nation in Saskatchewan.
I hope that we can get 5409 people to immerse in honor of the: (list updated as of August 18, 2021)
3213 documented in the TRC Report
215 remains in Kamloops,
104 in Brandon, Manitoba,
38 in Regina, Saskatchewan,
35 in Lestock Saskatchewan,
189 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania,
751 in Cowessess, Saskatchewan, and
182 in Cranbrook, BC
160 in Penelakut Nation, BC
227 in Mt. Pleasant, MI
161 in Fort Providence, NWT
21 in Grand Junction, CO
39 in Dunbow, AB
74 in Battleford, SK
and those that have yet to be found. May we show that we will never forget them, that we love them, that we cherish Indigenous life and that the Jewish people know that every child matters.
Click here the water immersion ceremony instructions and ritual text.
Immersion count to date: 5.