In 1986 in Sudbury, the United Church of Canada made its first official Apology to First Nations people in the words of Moderator Bob Smith:

“Long before my people journeyed to this land your people were here, and you received from your Elders an understanding of creation and of the Mystery that surrounds us all that was deep, and rich, and to be treasured.

We did not hear you when you shared your vision. In our zeal to tell you of the good news of Jesus Christ we were closed to the value of your spirituality.

We confused Western ways and culture with the depth and breadth and length and height of the gospel of Christ.

We imposed our civilization as a condition of accepting the gospel.

We tried to make you be like us and in so doing we helped to destroy the vision that made you what you were. As a result, you, and we, are poorer and the image of the Creator in us is twisted, blurred, and we are not what we are meant by God to be.

We ask you to forgive us and to walk together with us in the Spirit of Christ so that our peoples may be blessed and God's creation healed.”

After conferring for a considerable time, the First Nations Elders within the United Church emerged from their tepee near the sacred fire to graciously receive the Apology. The road towards reconciliation however, is a long pathway in which apologies must be followed by concrete acts that clearly demonstrate a change of heart and mind.

In 1988, Moderator Bill Phipps issued a second formal Apology for the pain and suffering caused by the United Church involvement in the Indian residential school system. “We commit ourselves,” he said, “to work towards ensuring that we will never again use our power as a church to hurt others with attitudes of racial and spiritual superiority.”

On the 20th Anniversary of the 1986 Apology, Manitou Conference of The United Church has initiated this Touring Exhibition in collaboration with the WKP Kennedy Gallery as another step in the on-going journey of Apology-making.