Creator,
We sit in stillness, waiting for your healing touch
We sit in stillness, tears falling down our cheeks in grief
We sit in stillness, witnessing the ways our culture breaths life back into our people
Blowing gently as a balm to our spirits
We hear the voices and feel the presence of the Old Ones who witness this reclamation,
and know that it is good
We feel the presence of the souls of children, stolen from their families and communities,
waiting to return home, even if only in how they are remembered
We release into your arms the hurts and trauma that we carry, that our forebears carried, and that our children and their children will carry
So that we can hold a newborn in our arms and say, truly, never again
So that we can watch with pride as young ones speak our language and dance our dances
So that we can take the time we need to spend time with you in prayer and gratitude
So that we can continue to thrive as Indigenous peoples
So that we can live on our land, fully who we are as you intended us to be
We pray for the continued accountability of the churches and the governments for the harms they inflicted
We pray for reparations so that the oppressions that have always been imposed on our peoples may be reversed
We pray for justice, that it continues to be done and our rights asserted and our land returned
We pray for hearts changed and minds opened of Canadians still in denial about the atrocities that happened and continue to happen
We pray for our communities so that we may be gentle with ourselves and gentle with others
All this, we pray, will be done in a good way
Every child matters.
Amen
— by Moderator Carmen Lansdowne