Thursday of the First Week of Lent
March 2nd, 2023
Call to Action: 52
52. We call upon the Government of Canada, provincial and territorial governments, and the courts to adopt the following legal principles:
i. Aboriginal title claims are accepted once the Aboriginal claimant has established occupation over a particular territory at a particular point in time.
ii. Once Aboriginal title has been established, the burden of proving any limitation on any rights arising from the existence of that title shifts to the party asserting such a limitation.
Suggestions for Almsgiving
The 2023 Lenten Calendar is a project of CTA's Indigenous Solidarity Collective, a working group that addresses the Catholic Church's historical and current role in colonialization. To support more projects from working groups like this one, please consider making a contribution!
Thursday, Mar. 2, 2023
Equity for Aboriginal People
in the Legal System
Call To Action's 2023 Lenten Calendar is a collaboration between the Indigenous Solidarity Collective and Anti-Racism Team (ART). This calendar provides more than 40 days of prayer and study to lead members into action and solidarity with Indigenous communities. For holy days and Sundays during Lent, we'll publish a reflection from an ART or Indigenous Solidarity Collective member on why we're committed to undoing racism and Indigenous oppression in our own communities and biases and what it means to do this work as Catholics. Following each meditation or reflection, we will feature a call to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
Whiteness asks us to seek sameness and uniformity. Living into whiteness, we minimize the differences of others to create sameness- to create "order.”
"Kill the Indian, save the man." This was the horrific task of Christian-run residential schools. The Platinum Rule, rather than the Golden Rule, invites us into a more equitable mindset. "Do onto others as they would have want done onto them." It invites us to use empathy and curiosity to be in relationship, listen to what is being asked of us, and then to act accordingly to the wishes of others.
"For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
—Meditation by Indigenous Solidarity Collective member Scott Pyzik
As part of your Lenten practice, please consider donating to one or more of the
following organizations: