Show Notes
“You have to be open to it. You might not want to listen or hear what someone has to say that has a different belief system…. God calls us to love everyone, to listen to their stories. This is what have gotten me started and motivated.”
Jolene Peters lives intentionally in her Saskatoon neighbourhood as a part-time hair stylist, part-time nanny, full-time mom and wife. Jolene is from the Mistawsis band and grew up in a Mennonite family as a foster child. Jolene and her family are very involved at their church, House for All Nations.
In our conversation with Jolene she spoke about how the birth of her daughter propelled her to explore her Indigenous heritage and navigate how to reconcile Indigenous spirituality with her Christian faith. She spoke passionately about her desire that her daughter grow up to be a proud Indigenous person.
Ben Borne and I invited Jolene to have a conversation around these five questions:
1. What is your personal understanding of reconciliation?
2. What experiences have led you to this understanding?
3. Why do you feel reconciliation is important?
4. Does forgiveness have a role in reconciliation? Why or why not?
5. How would you invite people into the reconciliation journey?
Then we recorded her reflections.
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Additional resources to explore:
Office of the Treaty Commissioner events
Mennonite Central Committee Saskatchewan
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Reconcile: Everyday Conversations is a project of Mennonite Central Committee Saskatchewan aimed at facilitating conversations among settler/non-Indigenous Canadians around our role in reconciliation. We thank Mennonite Church Saskatchewan for additional funding support.
Project Coordinator: Heather Peters
Co-host: Ben Borne
Recording and Editing: Matthew Hildebrandt
Music by Queen Queen Josephine
More from Reconcile. Everyday Conversations
“Action is the part I really focus on in my understanding (of reconciliation) because we can say a lot of things and people can come to a lot of discussion tables, but if you're not actually doing the stuff it is going to be forgotten.”
“I think now though, it's using my voice to create safe spaces, to have tough conversations, but have this conversations in a respectful and safe way. So we can … hear that before you get to reconciliation, you need to hear this ugly truth, right?”
“The chef coat that you see is actually modeled after the Turkish army. And I think there's a lot of a lot of rules and etiquette, and kitchen ways of being that are actually at odds with indigenous culture. So I'm trying to, I guess you could say decolonize that kitchen experience for people.”
In all my conversations with people about reconciliation I have heard that it isn’t an individual journey people are on. The reconciliation path is filled with relationships, teachers, learners and explorers – it is filled with other people. So we have created a reconciliation study guide that accompanies this podcast for you to be able to take to your friends, churches, communities, or neighbourhood book clubs to engage with these conversations together.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode talks about incidences of sexual abuse. It is difficult to hear these stories and if it would be harmful or triggering for you to listen, we suggest skipping this episode. Maryann felt the stories were important to share because she had been shameful of them for many years and has since realized that these are not secrets she needs to hold.