Today Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed Parliament apologizing on behalf of the federal government to the former students of the Indian residential school program. His statement was followed in the House of Commons by speeches from aboriginal leaders and the day was marked by ceremonies in communities across the country.
From my place as Ceremonialist, I am interested in seeing how does this taking responsibility by the government on one hand, and the receiving of this admission come into form? On the part of the government, the protocols and procedures of the House of Commons are observed as per normal though on this day, other Parliamentary business was cancelled and aboriginal leaders were invited to respond immediately after Stephen Harper’s statement. I would say that there are regularly some ritual elements, steeped in traditions long documented, that govern the day-to-day business of the Canadian government. How “alive” this is, is actually up to the particular people involved and if they authentically embody the “spirit”, if you will, of the rituals and of their words. My wish here is that today’s words were authentic and that they will come into concrete form, in the ways that are best as determined by the people affected.
From the point of view of the aboriginal communities, it is quite a different thing to receive than to deliver, and from what I could find out in the news (most of it focused on Harper’s speech and not the aboriginal ceremonies), the ceremonies included: a sunrise ceremony at Parliament Hill to honour former residential school students who had died; a smudging ceremony inside Parliament Hill (I bet the place could do with a real cleaning!); a “letting go” ceremony in Nova Scotia; and other events across the country. My firm wish here is that such ceremonies were not “staged” by the government for their positive PR effects, but rather that they were the powerful, living, organic ceremonies that would best serve the people affected by today’s statement. Ceremonies don’t fix the legacy of problems left by the residential school system, but they can be tools of healing, letting go and moving forward from a new place.
And one final observation: there is no way to have marked this day without ceremony. Think about it – how would that communication have gone out and been received if not with a formal space and time apart, carefully chosen words spoken on behalf of many, symbolic gestures and actions of giving and receiving. Societally and culturally, ceremony is the tool we use to mark the big changes. As long as there have been civilizations, there have been ceremonies. One of our upper needs on the hierarchy of needs, but one we cannot let go. The challenge always is to have the ceremonies be meaningful and reflective of authentic change. May this be so today.
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