November 2009 CoGS Wheels

Our baptismal covenant calls on us, with God's help, to "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being." I recently attended the Synod of Canada, that Ecclesiastical Province which includes the Maritime dioceses and the diocese of Quebec. A resolution repudiating the badly named and rather poorly understood "Doctrine of Discovery" was passed unanimously. It reminded me how little I have thought about this topic, and that it will likely appear on the upcoming agendas of CoGS and on the floor of General Synod in Halifax next June. National Indigenous Anglican Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald, was quoted extensively in the Anglican Journal August 19 when the Episcopal Church passed a similar resolution (D035) at its recent General Convention. Bishop Mark had been one of the writers of the final version. He has pointed out that the concept is really not a "doctrine" but a political mindset that would be better described as a "Cultural Framework of Discovery." However, the Doctrine of Discovery and Terra Nullius have become entrenched in international discourse, and are incorporated in complex and fundamental principles of Canadian constitutional law.

The Doctrine of Discovery, simply described in D035 refers to a declaration originating with Henry VII in 1496, which held that Christian sovereigns and their representative explorers could assert dominion and title over non-Christian lands with the full blessing and sanction of the Church. It continues to be invoked in court cases and land claim disputes. Terra Nullius is a concept that is used to justify the Doctrine declaring that discovery was valid when the lands discovered were truly unoccupied. However the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples at General Synod 2001, pointed out "in the age of discovery most lands indeed had inhabitants so the term came to mean lands that were uncultivated according to European standards; i.e. where the inhabitants had no fixed addresses and as one New England preacher put it, roamed the territory "like wild beasts in the forest.""

After the British conquest of 1763 and Chief Pontiac's threatened resistance to expansion, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 declared the Crown's legal title to all discovered lands. Consequently, traditionally occupied lands may only be ceded to the Crown. This Proclamation is included in the clause concerning Aboriginal rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and of course is always background to the complex land settlement issues of the present day.

For me, the great sadness is that until recently only Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia have been unwilling to sign the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the General Assembly on September 13, 2007. The recent actions of the Episcopal Church, and the signals that all governments except Canada are preparing to sign-on to this Declaration is leaving us alone as perpetuators of a fundamental injustice based on the Doctrine of Discovery and Terra Nullius. While Canada has done much in recent times for addressing land claims and Indigenous rights, this stands as a terrible mark on our citizenship.

There are those who might call me a "bleeding-heart liberal" who doesn't appreciate the constitutional complexities. Our efforts in the Anglican Church of Canada to recognize and build National Indigenous Ministry will be unveiled at CoGS and General Synod thanks to a hardworking Governance Working Group. With partners such as KAIROS, Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, and enlightened Canadians of all denominations, I predict a growing number of Canadians will repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery and Terra Nullius, whether church members or not. I pray that as Anglicans trying to live out our baptismal covenant that the Holy Spirit will move us with courage and steadfastness to indeed repudiate this historical aberration and atrocity.