Idle No More--Seeking Understanding in our Times Based on an Ancient Wisdom

In every crisis, there is both an opportunity and a danger.  The opportunity that the “Idle No More” Movement is demonstrating to Canadians is that old top-down authority structures, old wineskins, old systems of governing are cracking and crumbling, making room for a more relational type of government.  We now know that change is coming, so change is inevitable.  Growth, however, is optional. 

The danger is in whether we will respond to relational opportunities in a spirit of self-will and independence, or in  love and respect for the dignity of every human life in the process of relationship-building and transformation, including those who are in the grassroots as well as those who are in authority. 

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

 Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Shawn Atleo

Is government and authority structures that do not by-pass the hearts of the grassroots people possible?  Only if there is a willingness to rule out of relationship, and not out of position and title, and to really hear the heart of one another, and to respect other spheres of rule and measures of influence.

The challenge to people who are in authority is to first listen, to hear the heart,  and to not seek to impose one’s own will on the people, but to be a servant, and to rule with justice, with equity and without partiality.  The number one quality of wise rulers who rule justly is that they have a wise, understanding and discerning heart.  A “wise heart” is a “hearing heart,” a heart that can hear from above, and then hear the voice of people in the grassroots so that leaders can then judge rightly, and discern what is wisdom in each individual situation.

The challenge to the grassroots people is also to listen to a point of view greater than oneself, to get all the facts straight, and to realize that the world does not revolve around any one individual, and that we must show respect for constituted authority in order to avoid chaos.  The grassroots need to keep their right to dissent within the rule of law, knowing that rulers are ultimately accountable to a power greater than us, and that there are laws of sowing and reaping that will bring ultimate justice to every generation—both rulers and common people, elders and children.  

All Ages Show Support for "Idle No More!"

Seven Lessons to be Learned from the "Idle No More" Movement

 

 1.     The first lesson that we can learn from the “Idle No More” Movement is the power that there is in the Native Drum.  The Drum goes deeper than words, and starts to connect with the heart.  The Drum is the heartbeat, and connects with the interior world of the heart.

Many Canadians do not realize that the Drum has the capacity to connect people’s hearts with the spiritual world, and to strengthen people’s resolve in a way that goes deeper than words.  We just want to be sure that we are using the Drum to connect with the Holy Spirit, and not with spirits of intimidation, ill will or hatred.

If the Native Drum is made out of moose hide or elk hide, surely it is a part of God’s creation even more than the synthetic drums that are used in most churches today.  Surely everything in the creation can be used to give honour and glory back to the One who created all things for His glory and pleasure, and has a loving, redemptive purpose.  What God is looking at is not so much the drum itself, as what is in the heart of the drummer.  The Native Drum can open the heavens so that the Holy Spirit can move powerfully.

Every sound, every voice, every language has significance and meaning, and this is certainly true of the Native Drum which can be a powerful influence in connecting people at a heart level, joining us as humans at the level of our heart beat, and bringing down intellectual strongholds and mindsets where we are in division, out of rhythm, and out of sync with the heartbeat of our Father in heaven.

2.      A second lesson that we can learn from the “Idle No More” Movement is the power that there is in intercession, heart cries and chants that comes from a deep place within the heart.

When we hear the native voices being released with a powerful intercession that is locked up deep within the native breast, releasing prayers, songs, chants and bodily movement in the dance, many people do not realize the power that these songs and chants release.  They do not just come from the mind, but from a deep place within the heart, and it is really a cry, a prayer, an intercession that is too deep for words.

Many people may think that these songs and chants have no meaning, but they really do release something into the atmosphere.  There is no sound, no voice, no language that is without significance or without meaning.  Just because we do not understand it does not mean that something is not being released spiritually.  We want to understand the meaning, and to welcome the Holy Spirit with both our spirit and our understanding.

Before we judge, it is up to us to find out what the song means.  Until we know what is in the singer’s heart, and what the song means, our minds will not understand what is going on, nor will we put ourselves into agreement with songs and with intercessions that can connect the heavenly and the earthly, the spiritual and the natural, the people and the land.  There is a cry, a song, a sound that relates to the land of every people group and nation (ethnos) on the face of the earth. 

Intercessory prayer is the type of prayer that leads to transformation, and in the heart of a liberated worshiper, this native intercession can bring the anointing to a higher level than if we just pray out of our minds, and can produce a spiritual breakthrough.  I see this intercession as a cry from the deep heart, not something to be judged externally.  It must be discerned internally.

3.       A third lesson that we can learn from the “Idle No More” Movement is that authority cannot be exercised indefinitely in a “top down” manner before hearts will eventually rise up wanting to be heard to allow for the release of their interior world, their spirit, and their feelings that have been suppressed for a long time. 

Some Canadians wonder why the police do not always enforce the laws to some of the blockades and obstructionist tactics by some who are a part of the “Idle No More” Movement.  This may be because hurting people come to a point where expressing what is on their heart is so important to them that it over rides any fear of external laws, or of the threat of a prison term. 

You cannot indefinitely suppress what is in the human heart by the fear of punishment.  This is why many native chiefs, while not agreeing with acts of civil disobedience, still understand the feelings and the expressions of pain that come from within the “Idle No More” Movement.

4.       A fourth lesson that we can learn from the “Idle No More” Movement is that no one person can speak for an entire movement, let alone an entire organization.  Therefore, we need to be aware of the need to avoid stereotyping everybody within an organization or within a movement by putting them all into the same box, or painting them with the same brush.

It has become very clear that the Assembly of First Nations does not speak for all First Nations, and for all chiefs, and that each sphere of influence will have to find a way to negotiate and to build relationships on a stable foundation of truth if we are to avoid fragmenting and disintegrating.  Therefore, a wise leader recognizes that he or she does not know what is in everybody’s heart, and will not presume to speak for them, but will try to find a way to hear the heart to see if there is a way for hearts and for minds to meet.

Sylvia McAdam, a professor at First Nations University of Canada and one of the four founders of the “Idle No More” Movement has made it quite clear that the Assembly of First Nations does not speak for this movement.  McAdam has said that the AFN has different goals than Idle No More, and that the organization cannot speak on behalf of the activists.

According to her, the agenda that emerged during the meeting on Friday, January 11, 2013, between the Prime Minister and some chiefs, is too narrow to capture the essence of the grassroots movement.  She said, “It doesn’t begin to address the issue that Idle No More is attempting to stop, and that is the legislation that is going through Parliament.  All I can say is that no political organization can speak on behalf of Idle No More…We speak on different topics.”
Check this link .
Yet the problem that grassroots movements like this run into is that while Grand Chief Shawn Atleo cannot speak on behalf of all First Nations, neither can Sylvia McAdam speak on behalf of the entire “Idle No More” Movement.  As just one example, she is not in favour of the current blocking of rail lines, highways, or bridges, a tactic that has been popular among some Idle No More activists.  Check this link .



Blocking bridges...

Blocking railways...

This car rear-ended another vehicle when the drivers were distracted by the Idle No More Blockade on Highway #403 in Ontario on Saturday, January 12, 2013.

It is reasonable to predict that “Idle No More” activists such as these will soon say that the movement’s co-founder, Sylvia McAdam, does not speak for them, even while she is saying that the Assembly of First Nations does not speak for her.  For any movement to have longevity and to accomplish its goals, there must be a sacrosanct respect for civil order.  Otherwise the movement will alienate the very people that it needs support from in order to accomplish its goals.

Forced and impositional change is never permanent change, because it by-passes the hearts of others.  Beliefs on all sides are deep-seated and  personal, but the beliefs of nobody will ever be changed by impositions, threats, ultimatums or pressure, but only by persuasion, and appealing to reason, and being willing to interact and to engage over the long haul until there is a heart connection based on mutual love.

5.       A fifth lesson that we can learn from the “Idle No More” Movement is that one cannot build a relationship of trust with anybody, or even discuss things reasonably together, unless and until we have first of all felt their pain. 

I think that right now, many Canadians simply do not understand the pain that has been locked within the Native breast for many decades that is being released now, and they are asking for somebody to please give them some understanding how we can respond to the heart cry of the First Peoples.  This cry goes back to issues that are deeper than money, deeper than legislation and deeper than programs, a connection that goes back to something ancient, back to the land, back to the creation, and back to the Creator.  We have had a different interpretation of the treaties because we have a different interpretation of land, and issues that involve the land.



Chief Peguis (1774 - 1864)

Chief Peguis has always been associated with peacefulness and reconciliation. He tried to calm things during the Hudson Bay Company-Northwest Company wars.  The master diplomat listened patiently and resisted taking sides and came to the defense of the Selkirk settlers.  According to George Siamandas, Winnipeg photographer, film maker and historian, “when issues of who owned the land came up it was Peguis' view that it belonged to the Great Father.”  Check this link . 

A First Nations woman with the “Idle No More” Movement” pled, with tears in her eyes, outside of the Prime Minister’s Office as some chiefs were going in to see the Prime Minister on January 11, 2013, “Today's the day to stand for our ancestors.”

Today, many white people think that Native people are saying, “We own the land, and we have the right to kick you out!”  Actually, according to the ancient teachings of the ancestors, the land was not owned by any human being, but by the One who created it.  The belief is that the Creator who owns the land has placed original people in every place of the earth as spiritual stewards of the land with real spiritual authority and as gatekeepers as to what from the spiritual realm will be allowed in.

As a Declaration of First Nations so clearly states, “We the Original Peoples of this land know the Creator put us here…The Laws of the Creator defined our rights and responsibilities…The rights and responsibilities given to us by the Creator cannot be altered or taken away by any other Nation.”

The belief is that this connectedness to the land, and these rights and responsibilities are inherent and inalienable, and therefore cannot be given to them or taken away from them by any temporal government.  What any temporal government gives, another temporal government can take away.  The boundaries on the land established by the Creator (Deuteronomy 32:7, 8; Acts 17:26, 27) were not boundaries that were established by colonization or by wars between nation-states, and while foreigners and immigrants are always to be welcomed, proper protocol needs to be followed in honouring the host people of the land.

In the beginning of our history, that protocol was not followed, and we are paying the price for that in Canadian society today.  A part of the “Great Father’s” stewardship of the land was the responsibility to welcome the foreigner, the stranger, the alien, but there was no place in the thinking of ancestors like Chief Peguis that this meant that those welcomed could then put up fences based on individual ownership which by-passed a sense of community, joint stewardship, sharing and mutual co-operation under God.

In my view, a big part of the cry that is in the heart of First Nations is a return to something that has been lost, something ancient, and that is a spiritual connection to the land of their forefathers.  It is a cry that begins in the deep heart, and that is where relationships must begin—at a deep heart level. 

We can go so far by discussion or by reason, but joint prayer is what begins to unite us at the heart level so that we can begin to sense what the other is sensing, to feel what the other is feeling, and to experience what the other is experiencing.  Only then can we connect on a deeper level that will enable us to really hear one another, and to share hearts with one another, to learn from one another, and to speak truth as we have perceived it into each other’s lives. 

Only then will we come into a more complete understanding and walk in greater light together.  What can unite us?  I believe that the Creator took on human form in His Son who totally understands every heart, because He has in fact has already felt our pain, and been through it for us, having been despised and rejected of men, and is even now making intercession for us, not against us.  Intercession that is used to bless rather than to curse is a powerful spiritual connection that can unite all people of goodwill.

It is the truth that is in a Person who can be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, and who was in every way tempted like as we are, but yet overcame the temptation—it is this truth that sets us free.  Yet embracing truth can and is initially a painful process, because it challenges our old paradigms of understanding.

In the meantime, can we feel the pain, and hear the heart cry that is arising from within the breasts of the First Nations and indeed within all nations?  Can we lift up our voice with theirs to the Father in Heaven who alone can transcend our divisions and our perspectives with a love that is higher, deeper, wider and longer than our minds could ask, think or imagine?

Indigenous people all over the earth--whether Inuit, First Nations, Metis, Jews, Palestinians etc.--have something in common, and that is the pain of disconnection from the land of their forefathers.

The tears that were in the eyes of the Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Derek Nepinak, as he was marching on Parliament Hill on January 11, 2013, did not go unnoticed.  They were coming from a deep place.  Thankfully, among those chiefs who refused to see the Prime Minister, there were no violent incidents.  They were peaceful in the sense that they were nonviolent, and while some were angry, many were in tears.  They were speaking with a language that is deeper than words.  It was an expression from deep within their hearts.

6.       A sixth lesson that we can learn from the “Idle No More” Movement is that government at the local level is closer and more personal, and therefore more able to connect on the heart level than any provincial or national government can do that is further removed from the people.  This movement is a call for a more decentralized exercise of power in both the Canadian Government and in the Assembly of First Nations.  This involves a huge challenge in seeking to now go back and to interpret the treaties relationally on a “nation-by-nation” basis, and not just one monolithic arrangement that speaks for all First Nations.

Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Shawn Atleo understands this, as he realizes that he cannot speak for all First Nations in a way that would by-pass the hearts and the unique concerns of each nation, each ethnos, each with its linguistic and cultural diversity.  Both he and Chief Spence are saying the same thing in this regard.  Where they differ, however, is that the Grand Chief has demonstrated a willingness to engage the Prime Minister in a mutual and relational manner.  Yet he also realizes that Chief Spence and “Idle No More” has raised a national awareness of the urgency of understanding and addressing these matters.

Once we address the importance of hearing the heart on this issue, and develop trust, we can build on this foundation to address the issues of financial accountability, transparency and personal responsibility in a  relational and spiritually connected way.  Otherwise, negotiations would end up comprising 630 separate, disconnected, isolated nations under authority structures that have no connection beyond themselves. 

Every human being, and every culture has strengths and weaknesses, and therefore there are many things we can learn from each other, and yet each has limitations.  All reasonable Canadians realize the impossibility of one Prime Minister personally negotiating a revitalization of the treaties of 630 First Nations on a “nation-by-nation” basis without a network of trusted relationships and delegated authority that can listen and learn in good faith on behalf of the government within a framework of mutual trust and understanding.

First Nations also need to be sufficiently unified with the understanding that authority and responsibility go hand-in-hand.  For all of us, maturity comes with the acceptance of our responsibility while respecting the rights of others, not so much by our demanding our rights while putting all the responsibility on to others.  Traditional native values are family values, not top-down, statist values.  There are family-oriented persons on all sides of this crisis who can point our nation in a direction of overcoming crisis and transforming it relationally.  This can happen only if we can rise above and transcend self-interest and our own egos.

AFN Grand Chief Shawn Atleo and Quebec Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come brought to the Prime Minister’s attention eight points of fundamental change that the AFN brought to the table, the first being the need for “establishing frameworks with necessary mandates for the implementation and enforcement of Treaties on a Treaty by Treaty basis, between the Treaty Parties Nation-to-Nation.”  Check this link .

The First Nations chiefs who did attend the “working meeting” with the prime minister emerged with something to show for it, and so did the federal government.  The national chief told Evan Solomon that the prime minister “responded to all eight points,” and that Harper stayed for the entire duration of the working meeting which “wasn’t expected.”  Atleo also said the prime minister committed to “rapid follow-up” within the “coming days and weeks.”

Atleo also said that Harper committed to “prime ministerial oversight” and “recognized that political oversight was necessary for there to be real change in the relationship between First Nations and Canada.”  Check this link .

 From the standpoint of the Government of Canada, Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan stated that the Prime Minister had agreed to “high-level dialogue on treaty relationships and comprehensive land claims.”   The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Greg Rickford, who was also at the meeting, stated, “We found common ground,” and he described the meeting as “polite, respectful and a substantive meeting.”

Matthew Coon Come, Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees and former Grand National Chief of the AFN, in appearing on CBC News Network's Power & Politics, declared he was surprised by the reaction of the prime minister whom he said "moved a couple of posts forward."

Matthew Coon Come, Grand Chief of the Council of the Crees in Quebec

Coon Come is a long-time advocate for the rights of indigenous peoples in Canada, and is best known for his fight against the Quebec government’s James Bay hydroelectric project.

Also, the present AFN Grand Chief Shawn Atleo, after meeting with the Prime Minister on January 11, 2013, told The National’s Wendy Mesley, "We have full consensus on the substance of the issues that were pressed fully today by the delegation that went to the prime minister.  It's going to require real work to follow through, but we have now a highest level mandate from the prime minister.  I cannot overstate that the voices of our people helped create the level of urgency."  Check this link .

So this has the potential of resulting in a decentralization of power that will require much goodwill in relationship and trust in order to retain connection and unity while allowing for the diversity that allows for every individual tribe and nation to feel heard while being a part of a bigger picture than each First Nation.  This will require repentance and a change of mindset in all Canadians.

7.       A seventh lesson that we can learn from the “Idle No More” Movement is the fact that I believe that those chiefs who are sympathetic to the movement but who still recognize the need to recognize constituted authority, and to engage with the Prime Minister, are showing us the way forward.  We are going to have to go to the Creator to fill us with the Holy Spirit to such a degree that we can reach out to one another, and seek to restore relationships of trust once again.  Only when we know that we are loved unconditionally can we reach out to love others unconditionally.  Unless forgiveness is applied to our past, we will stay stuck.

As Quebec Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come stated before courageously going in to see the Prime Minister amid much opposition and resistance, “I didn’t come here just to protest…I respect the people that want the Governor General to be present, but in this country, our constitution has already been repatriated, and no Prime Minister would give his executive powers to the Governor General.  That’s the reality.”

Dissenting chiefs look on while other chiefs approach the entry way to the Prime Minister's Office to meet the Prime Minister without the Governor General being present.

Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come courageously makes his way to meet the Prime Minister.

Women standing arm-in-arm to try to discourage chiefs from entering the building to meet with the Prime Minister.  At least one was reported to have burst into tears as Matthew Coon Come went through the doorway.

Let’s remember that even if the Queen were the chief authority within Canada, that the Queen is crowned at a ceremony conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who invokes the blessing of Almighty God, the Head of all principality and power. 

“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities (rulers) or powers (authorities).  All things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16).

“You are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality (rule) and power (authority)” (Colossians 2:10).

It is time that Canada got back to recognizing the historical basis of its own constitution, which begins with those historic words of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, that “whereas Canada was founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God, and the rule of law…”

This was the belief that motivated Elijah Harper to call a Sacred Assembly back in December of 1995 after Canada nearly divorced after a very close referendum vote in Quebec earlier that year, and after Elijah had stopped the Meech Lake Accord with his famous “No!” vote in the Manitoba Legislature a few years earlier.

Elijah Harper's father, Red Sucker Lake Pastor Alan B. Harper and Prime Minister Jean Chretien in December, 1995

Pastor Alan B. Harper giving the Invocation for the Sacred Assembly in December, 1995

The Sacred Assembly in Gatineau, Quebec, in December of 1995 was opened up with the invocation by Elijah Harper's father, Alan B. Harper, a man who faithfully served his people in Red Sucker Lake as a pastor for 54 years.  With Wally McKay as his interpreter, Alan B. Harper declared, "It has been taught that we do everything in God's Name, and upon this Assembly we invoke the blessing of God, and of His Son, and of the Holy Spirit!"

Left to right:  Alan B. Harper, Ovid Mercredi, PM Jean Chretien, Elijah Harper during opening of Sacred Assembly in December, 1995

In his opening remarks to the Sacred Assembly in December of 1995, with Prime Minister Jean Chretien and leaders from all political parties and denominations in Canada in attendance, Elijah Harper eloquently declared,

“I have a vision for this country we call Canada.  It is not my vision.  It is not a new vision at all.  It is a vision of our people, the First Nations.  It is a vision of our forefathers.  It is a vision that lies in the heart and soul of our people. It is inherent in our traditional values and beliefs.  Above all, it is a vision that acknowledges and embraces the supremacy of God, our Creator.

“This vision is not very complicated, but it is strong.  It embraces unity, caring, loving and sharing.  But this vision has been dormant.  It has not been understood or appreciated by many ordinary Canadians.  We know that God created different people and nations all over the world.  We know that God has established landmarks and boundaries.

“We have a responsibility to maintain the unity of this land, and to sustain the environment.  Our forefathers had difficulty in understanding the concept of owning land.  It is alien, like the concept of owning air.  But we understood the need to use the land for the benefit of everybody, not for greed.

“It is important for all Canadians to understand and appreciate this—that our relationship with the land is a responsibility that it is not within our power to extinguish.

“It has become more apparent that these things need to be resolved, and that the political process has failed us.  I believe that there is something missing which is a spiritual element.  Thus came the idea of the Sacred Assembly.  There needs to be a healing in the land and the people.  There needs to be reconciliation, restoration and restitution.

“Because of our relationship with the Creator in this land, this is a spiritual process, a sacred process, and this is the reason why we have called a Sacred Assembly.

“A nation without a vision has no hope.  A nation without a vision has no future.  We now embark on this journey together for the benefit of all people here in Canada.  Meegwetch.”

Note:  To see a YouTube of this speech and other comments made at the Sacred Assembly in December, 1995, please click here .

Later that morning, Elijah Harper also declared, “We must open the door for the Presence of the Holy Spirit.”

Why, some may ask, have we not made more headway with these issues since the Sacred Assembly of 1995?  Clearly, Elijah’s words are as true today as they were back then:  “This vision has been dormant.  It has not been understood or appreciated by many ordinary Canadians.”  I might add that it is not understood or appreciated by many who sit in authority either.  In fact, we have taken the “separation of church and state” to mean the “separation of God and the state,” and we wonder why we cannot seem to get a spiritual connection, or a joining of hearts at a deep level.  We have not humbled ourselves to admit that we even need healing, except for a remnant in our land who have not given up on the ancient promises given to our forefathers.

This vision is not incompatible with multiculturalism at all, but without the Holy Spirit, there can be no integrating factor to relationally connect people who are different.  There is still only one God who created us all, and He is the One who has given to every nation, every ethnos, their language, their culture and their way of life.  Only with this understanding can there be unity within diversity, and only then can true, lasting transformation happen

On the Need for Transformation

A key word that AFN Grand Chief Shawn Atleo has used repeatedly in his recent speeches is the word “transformation.”  It is vitally important, here, that all of us, Native and non-Native, understand what the word “transformation” means.

Transformation cannot begin with externally imposed change, but it must begin with a belief in the heart.  It cannot begin by demanding that present systems and structures appeal to our liking immediately, but it is a process from within the heart of every human being that is willing to work within systems and structures as they exist now, but to bring a new attitude, a new perspective, a new spirit that will result in true and permanent change, and that will change those structures from the inside out, not from the outside in.

This is the route that a significant number of the chiefs have chosen, including those who met on January 11 with the Prime Minister.  They include National Chief Shawn Atleo, Terry Paul and Debora Robinson from Nova Scotia/N.L., Regional Chief Roger Augustine and George Ginnish from New Brunswick/PEI, Regional Chief Ghislain Picard and Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come from Quebec, Leo Omani, Norma Johnstone, and Marcel Head from Saskatchewan, Regional Chief Jody Wilson-Raybould, Grand Chief Ed John and Doug White from B. C., Regional Chief Mike Smith and Eric Fairclough from the Yukon, Grand Chief Roland Twinn Treaty 8 from Alberta, Sasha Maracle of the AFN Youth Council, and Bertha Commanda of the AFN Elders Council.

If we simply divorce ourselves from existing structures, and try to force change externally, all we do is to set up another authority structure that refuses to honour other spheres.  If I disrespect Chief Shawn Atleo, a man with a heart, then what will I do if I am disrespected in a leadership position myself and want to be treated with dignity?  The basic building blocks of the universe that the Creator has established are relationships, and treating others with respect, with dignity, worth, value and love, even though we do not agree on everything.

Grand Chief Shawn Atleo was democratically elected, and if I try to show “solidarity” and yet disrespect democratically elected leaders, I start to undermine the very concepts of leadership, solidarity, unity, justice, the rule of law, and a respect for my own cause’s longevity and gaining a momentum of support from others that I need to accomplish my own goals.  We cut ourselves off from the very people that we need.

Trying to build bridges between the Canadian Government and the pain in the First Nations communities has already taken its toll on Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Shawn Atleo, and he is now under doctor's orders to take a short time away to be removed from the pressure, the dissonance and the voices that are tearing him apart.  Check this link .

At the heart level, I am convinced that we all want the same thing.  We all have the same longings—the longing to be heard, to be understood, and to be loved within the heart and mind of another, and then to be understood and loved in return.  It takes a real leader to lead the way in this, one who will not return evil for evil, but who will have faith that blessing can and will prevail over cursing, if we can find the strength from the Creator to overcome, and to bless even those who curse us.

This takes us beyond apologies for things that have been done in the past, to move ahead, to move forward in relationships of mutual respect, relationships that are willing to hear the heart, and to build trust once again.  This is not an easy process.  I am not minimizing that at all, but it is the only way forward. 

Change may not happen as quickly as we all would like, but if we push others too far too fast, we will end up with impositional change again, instead of transformational change.  Transformation is from glory to glory, from one degree of light to the next, as we get to know one another better, and gradually learn that it is safe to trust one another once more. 

Transformational change is a process, not an event.  It is change that is illustrated by the rising of the sun, in which the degree of light increases more and more from the time of the crack of dawn until the noon-day sun.  Transformational change is like a metamorphosis, such as when a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly.  It can be painful at times, and the temptation is to snip the cocoon and to shorten the process, but we need a vision that sees ahead to the end result in the future, a future of greater freedom for all. 

We need a vision that will make the wise decisions today to go through this process of relationship-building so that we will indeed give a better future to our children and to our grandchildren, and so that they will then not have to go around the mountain another time on these issues, but they will also walk with ever-increasing light, greater understanding, and less prejudice moving forward. 

True transformation works from within that which exists already, as challenging as it is, and is willing to go through the pain of metamorphosis so as not to abort that process from within.  We see today dictatorial governments in the world that have been overthrown by grassroots movements using force, only to use power in the same way that the previous government did, and human rights continue to be suppressed.

We need a healthy respect for constituted authority if we are to effect change that is truly transforming from within those structures.  Transformation does not start with changing the culture.  It starts with changing the heart, and then by way of the heart, bringing true and permanent change to the culture and to the external world by way of a new attitude. 

The wisdom of the ancients is very relevant here.  “Do not curse the king, even in your thought” (Ecclesiastes 10:10).  “You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people” (Exodus 22:28;  Acts 23:5).  “Honour all people.  Love the brotherhood.  Fear God.  Honour the king” (I Peter 2:17).

This does not mean that we should say nothing when leaders are unjust.  Every person needs to find their voice, and be free to share what is on their heart.  Both the most powerless people at the grassroots level and the highest of kings and rulers need to realize that they are all under authority, and are accountable to a Creator who is much greater than themselves. 

Kings, rulers, authorities, principalities and powers will not be transformed by the love of power, but by the power of love.  Love wins, and will ultimately bring all authority based on selfishness to its knees. 

You do not defeat your enemy by destroying him, but you defeat your enemy when your enemy becomes your friend.  This is what Mary, the mother of Jesus believed, and the vulnerable, defenceless life that was birthed from within her womb has done more to transform societies and cultures than all of the autocratic kings and political powers of history!

“He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.  He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly…in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers” (Luke 1:51-55).

Idle No More has the potential to become Idol No More!  Idolatry will lead to more conflict, isolationism,  division, fragmentation, disintegration, alienation, loneliness and disconnection, but worshipping the One who created all of us in His image will connect us at the heart level, and open our minds to start to understand one another better.  As never before, let us pray together, worship together, and sing together.

Derek Nepinak, the grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said on January 11, 2013, that the Idle No More Movement has enough people to “bring the Canadian economy to its knees.”   Check this link .

The opportunity here is that it can bring the nation-state of Canada to its knees in prayer!  Quebec Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come has emerged as a voice of reason and of wisdom in this crisis.  We know that he is a man of faith, a man of resolve, a man of prayer, a man who is filled with the Holy Spirit. 

I would not be surprised if he will join his colleague Kenny Blacksmith’s call to prayer before God’s Throne of Grace by inviting Canadians to Ottawa on Aboriginal Day, June 21, 2013.

Kenny Blacksmith has formerly been the Deputy Grand Chief of the Cree Nation of Mistissini, Quebec, and in 1997 founded the Gathering Nations International.  The heart of GNI is to see the complete spiritual, emotional, and physical healing and release of the First Peoples of Canada from a painful past.  The note below, beside his picture, is taken from his Facebook page. 

Kenny Blacksmith, former Deputy Grand Chief of the Cree Nation of Mistissini, Quebec

Kenny Blacksmith's vision as written on a hand-written note on his Facebook page 

In the recent words of Kenny Blacksmith, “I am only one voice among the First Nations peoples in Canada, but I know there are many others who will agree with me, that it is time!  Spiritual fathers, mothers, sons and daughters who represent spiritual authority in the land must come together in a national assembly. 

“On National Aboriginal Day (June 21, 2013) we will begin our day with a National Aboriginal Prayer Breakfast meeting.  We will then begin our Assembly on Friday evening, Saturday and finish by Sunday night.  There is no agenda but a call to come together, embrace one another, and sit at the feet of the King of all kings!  We will need all the help we can get.

“In Canada, there is a spiritual tipi.  It is big enough for all of us to fit in, and live in peace and safety.  In the middle, there is a place where the fire is, and the coals need to be fanned into flame!  It needs to be burning so hot that all people feel the presence and warmth of the Father’s love!  Some of us have felt this love but others still have not.  We must come back to be together, once more.”

So the opportunity here is that this “Idle No More” Movement can be a catalyst to bring the nation-state of Canada to its knees in prayer.  The danger is that if it just brings the nation of Canada to its knees economically, then all the people of Canada will suffer, including the First Nations, causing only more unrest, more protest.  That would be counter-productive to what the Idle No More Movement wants to accomplish.  My sense is that the Idle No More Movement will ultimately bring Canada to its knees in prayer, and that both those in authority and the grassroots will come to humble themselves before the Throne of Grace in prayer.  That will ultimately become our only and best hope for true transformation.

Indigenous expressions of prayer, intercession and worship are powerful, and can really open up the gates for the Holy Spirit to come into a Prayer Meeting or Gathering

If the powers that be cannot take away our song, our dances and our cultural expressions to give them back to the One who created us for His glory, they cannot take away our identity, and if they cannot take away our identity, they cannot take away our freedom, free to be who we are and yet joined one to the other, even as the Creator intended! 

For another timely article on this topic, there is an article by Don Hutchinson of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's Centre for Faith and Public Life which can be found here .  Meegwetch!