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How do you handle a situation where you step up to help but are told that, as a white person, you are no better than those who sought to "help" by sending aboriginal children off to residential schools?

I believe that this depends on how you try and “help.” On Sunday, two themes of education and friendship repeatedly came up as the first steps to engage with people who are ethnically/racially different than you. If instead of approaching a situation as the “fixer” and rather first being the learner and the friend, different situations will organically come up in conversations where you can lend a helping hand - just like in true friendship.

 

You stated Aboriginal students have $4000 less funding each. We in Kelowna pay a significant school tax for our local schools , the WFN or other reserve,  do not pay a school tax, how are we to address that?

This link here gives a great overview of First Nations Taxation in Canada. A couple of highlights from it (if you want explanation please read the article):

  • The Indian Act First Nations tax exemption is very narrow and applies only to personal property and income located on a reserve.
  • First Nations pay all other taxes not covered by the narrow exemption.
  • The tax exemption only involves about 272,000 First Nations people when you subtract the number of children aged 0-14 from the potential tax paying base.
  • That number is actually even lower because a number of First Nations have exchanged tax exemption for other benefits in self-governing Final Agreements.

With that said, I think this line of reasoning is unhelpful for the Christian. If we get hung up on who deserves what we can easily miss the abounding generosity of Christ. The Christian does not say, “We get what we deserve.” No, the Christian says, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This is us getting what we do not deserve - the grace of Jesus.

When it comes to addressing what we see as an “unfairness” in our society I believe we have three ways to react. First, we can tend to complain about it, justifying our own inaction to address the real needs and injustices. Second, we ignore it and the issues completely. Or finally, we can look past the various systems that are already in place (and honestly, there’s not a whole lot we can accomplish in the immediate on changing systems in our country), and reach out to the individual with Christian Generosity, giving of ourself because Christ gave everything for us.

 

What is our church doing as a corporate body and what is the denomination doing to: 1/ Combat racism 2/ Offer opportunities to individuals to address racism and discrimination? (besides our own individually inspired actions)

As a corporate body Mission Creek wants to cast a vision for the Unity that can be seen and found in Christ. This means that many of the practical outworkings of relational wholeness finds its burden of responsibility on the individual, not corporate gathering. We as a church can (and do) offer individuals opportunities to step into that unity, but this can so often lead to a religious adherence to "the law" that our hearts are not changed.

With that said, Mission Creek has inadvertendly stepped into this area of racial reconciliation through our Syrian Refugee Sponsorship. While this was not created as a way to combat racism, it is a natural outworking of the unity shown through the people of Christ. 

There are many areas where we as a local church could step into. As we pray about this, maybe God has placed a specific area on your heart to rally his people towards a certain goal or mission. 

 

Do you notice that certain ethnic groups coming to Canada are prejudiced against us and want us to change our ways to suit them?

Robin DiAngelo talks about “White Fragility.” This is how she defines it, “White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation.”  

As the predominant culture and people in Canada it is easy for us to notice any change to our norm as an “attack on our way of life.” Whether that is people speaking different languages, dressing differently, or having different routines than us, when new cultures and people interact with an existing culture there is often stress and tension.

To address the question about people wanting us to “change our ways to suit them,” I would turn to Paul in his letter to the Corinthians:

“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Cor 9:19-23)

Notice the pragmatism and motive in this paragraph. If Paul can win people to Christ by changing what cultural rituals he observes, he will. If Paul can win people to Christ by dressing differently he will. Paul will do whatever it takes to bring the Gospel to people as long as the Gospel truth itself is not compromised. The truth remains the same, but the vehicle in which the truth is communicated is changed so that as many people can know the life-transforming Jesus as Paul knows.