This speech was delivered on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and is published with the permission of Candida Shepherd, on behalf of the parish council at Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples – the national Indigenous parish in the Archdiocese of Edmonton.
Tan’si Archbishop Hero, Dear Friends and family.
When I was asked to speak about the future of Sacred Heart, I thought I should start with something very practical.
Parking.
If you have tried to find parking here on a Sunday morning—or for an event like tonight, you already know we have a problem. For three years now, we have been working to acquiring the land next door. At times, I think many of us have wondered if it is ever actually going to happen.
But that piece of land represents something much bigger than parking. Although, the parking would be nice. That land represents possibility.
I picture our Outreach Program expanding. I picture a healing centre.
I picture a garden where we can grow medicines and teach our children and grandchildren about them. Not from a book, but by putting their hands into the earth.
I picture a natural space where our children can learn all year round. A place where they can sit with Elders and Knowledge Keepers, learn traditional teachings, hear stories, learn language, and understand their relationship with the land.
Culture has to be lived. And language has to be spoken.
In fact, we are taking another small step in that direction right now. Our Cree language classes begin next Wednesday at 6:00 downstairs, with support from the Otipemisiwak Métis Government.
That may sound like one little program. But that is how revitalization happens. One class. One Elder. One word remembered and spoken again. (pause)
And then I think even bigger.
We are sitting here in the heart of Edmonton, in Treaty 6 territory. Tonight we are reminded that this is the ancestral traditional land of First Nations, Métis and Inuit and that reconciliation is about the future that we leave for those who come after us.
So, what could Sacred Heart of the First Peoples become?
I believe Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples can continue growing as a centre of Indigenous spiritual and cultural revitalization. A place for language. A place for culture. A place for ceremony and prayer. A place for healing.
A place where Indigenous Catholic spirituality and traditional Indigenous ways of knowing are intertwined leading us into the next 100 years. A place where Elders and Knowledge Keepers are honoured and recognized as essential to the life of this community.
I dream of a time when we can offer healing circles throughout the year. Culture camps. Language programs. Land based learning. Traditional teachings. Host an inner city Cursillo!
And a place for people to come when they are carrying wounds caused by colonization, residential schools, displacement, racism, poverty, addiction, hopelessness and loss.
Sacred Heart can’t fix everything. But our door is open. And sometimes, an open door is where healing begins. (pause)
That brings me back to someone who stood right here in this church. Pope Francis.
When Pope Francis visited Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples in July 2022, he described this parish as a place where First Nations, Métis and Inuit gathered alongside non Indigenous people and newcomers. He said that the work of healing and reconciliation had already begun here. And he reminded us that much of reconciliation happens not in large institutions, but locally, in communities like this one, where people walk side by side every day.
I think we need to remember that. Because sometimes we think reconciliation belongs to governments. Or bishops. Or universities. It does. But it also belongs here. It belongs to us. (pause)
Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples has already shown what can happen when a small community is willing to do something that seems bigger than itself.
The world came to this little church. Pope Francis came through these doors to contribute to this journey of reconciliation in Canada. That didn’t happen because Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples is the biggest church. It isn’t. It happened because this place has a story. And our story continues.
Tonight we have remembered the children who never returned home. We have honoured survivors and acknowledged the loss of language, culture, family and identity caused by residential schools. But this evening also reminds us that truth is the first step toward healing and that the choices we make now shape the lives of those who come after us.
That is why the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action still matter. They cannot simply become a document that Canada remembers once a year on September 30.
They have to remain calls to act. Some progress has been made. Some work continues. Other commitments remain unfinished or stalled. Canada still has work to do. And Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples can be part of showing what that work looks like when it becomes real. Reconciliation every day.
And finally, my hope for Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples is very personal. I want the person who feels lost to find this place. I want the person who feels forgotten to know there is a chair for them here. I want the person who has fallen through the cracks to walk through these doors and discover community. I want someone who has lost connection with culture to find an Elder. Someone who has lost their language to hear it spoken again. Someone who has lost faith to find a reason to hope.
And I want our children to grow up knowing exactly who they are and knowing that their culture, language, spirituality and traditions belong here. I hope we continue to be here when families experience loss. Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples will always be a place where we carry one another through grief, wakes and funerals.
But I also dream of when our calendar is filled with even more baptisms, weddings, feasts, graduations, cultural celebrations and gatherings. (pause)
Perhaps that is what the future of reconciliation should ultimately look like: Not simply surviving what happened to us. Living. Growing. Teaching our children. Speaking our languages. Practising our traditions. Praying together.
And making sure that what was nearly taken away is carried forward into the next generation.
Pope Francis told us that Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples should be a house of reconciliation. I believe it already is. Now our responsibility is to imagine how much more it can become.
And maybe, just maybe, it starts with that little piece of land next door.
And yes … some parking would still be nice.
Always in a good way… ekosi maka – Candida Shepherd
