Video: Indigenous People’s Day

June 21st is National Indigenous People's Day. The story of this day is embedded in the spiritual gathering called the Indian Ecumenical Conference held at Stoney Park in Morley Alberta in the 1970s. There in 1971 the Elders put forward a resolution calling for an "Indian Day of Prayer." Their hope was "to mediate some of the religious factionalism in Indian communities...and generally revive the spiritual strength of the North American Indians." The late Cherokee anthropologist Bob Thomas, who was instrumental in organizing these efforts, noted: "this is the day when the sun is in the sky the longest and is a holy day for a great many tribes. [We hope] to designate this one day as a symbol of religious unity." That day of spiritual empowerment and unity eventually became recognized as National Aboriginal People's Day in 1996 and renamed in 2017 to the name we have today. As an early partner in the Indian Day of Prayer, the United Church of Canada (UCC) and the Anglican Church of Canada both supported the suggested day at their respective gatherings: General Council 24 and the General Synod 1971. The UCC continues its efforts to recognize the need for reconciliation and healing from past abuses through the TRC Calls to Action and supports the rights of Indigenous people through the United Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). We join all Indigenous people in solidarity on this day to continue the call for change