3rd World Road Trip

Wed Aug 12^th

Reverend Alleycat

Today we leave for the third world.

You might think that means we’re heading south. But we’ve packed up the car and our tiny tent trailer and instead steered north. We’re heading for Kenora Ontario just two hours from Winnipeg.

Our destination is the Grassy Narrows first nations. Before we leave I hope to be able to pronounce the Ojibway name for the place. Grassy Narrows, to me, is the front lines of the battle to save Mother Earth. It’s also where the conflict between Empire and Indigenous peoples is laid bare. And so its where I expect to meet Jesus.

Of course the conflict between Empire and Indigenous peoples is just as current an issue in Peterborough. The two hundred year history of the European settlers’ exploitation of Indigenous lands is still unraveling.

Globally we’re finally becoming aware of the limits and consequences of that explitation. Global warming has finally become an international political issue and the future of humanity on the planet is being questioned. Will Mother Nature shake us from her back like a wet dog shdding water?

So, we’re heading for the place where our toilet paper comes from. In 1873, the Crown signed Treaty #3 with the people who have hunted, fished, and gathered a living from this land for ten thousand years or more. While the indigenous peoples saw the agreement, some have said, as a marriage where goods are shared, the Europeans were dividing up the spoils as in a divorce.

Grassy Narrows First Nations have invited the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) to be present as an international witness to their struggles to maintain the rights that Treaty declared. We’re joining a dozen people who CPT has gathered for a 10 day mission.

I’ll be posting blogs along the way. Come with us. Maybe we can spot Jesus together?