It had been almost twenty years since I had lived in Canada when I returned in 2019. In my absence, a new territory had been created, Nunavut (official language is Inuit), and what were once called the Queen Charlotte Islands had formally been renamed Haida Gwaii, in recognition of the Haida people who live there (official language is Haida). Special holidays had been created and awareness of native history, culture and tradition was growing. Land acknowledgement statements were commonplace at the beginning of any kind of public gathering. 

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2008 to 2015) brought about some major changes in laws, policies, and public awareness pertaining to Indigenous rights, equity, and inclusion. In 2014, the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) and Unitarian Universalist Ministers of Canada (UUMOC) issued a statement to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In it is a commitment to assemble and promote educational materials for congregations on the history and impact of the Indian residential school system, and to uphold the recommendations of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

General public awareness about racism and oppression seemed to be on the rise, especially as immigrant communities from African and Asian nations grew, as did racially-motivated violent crime. 

Following the death of George Floyd in May 2020, the CUC issued a statement mourning the deaths of people of color, and hosted a series of conversations, workshops and roundtables to discuss and begin work to address systemic racism. A Dismantling Racism Study Group was formed, tasked with interviewing, assessing, and making recommendations to the CUC. We were all immersed in learning about the long history of anti-black racism and discrimination in Canada. Recommendations from the group are being implemented, including investment of resources at the national and congregational level, and creating/assembling antiracism material for education and worship for congregations.

Then, in May 2021, the horrific discovery of the remains of 215 children buried in unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia shocked the nation. My heart broke wide open and joined with Indigenous communities as the news rolled through in a firestorm of grieving. This was just the beginning of a series of similar discoveries from other sites of some of the 140 Indian Residential Schools which operated across Canada from 1831 into the closing decades of the 20th Century. 

I was, at the time, serving as interim minister in Vancouver, British Columbia. There are three distinct tribes who have lived on the land where the city of Vancouver sprawls along the coast: the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Watuth First Nations. Every worship service began with an acknowledgment of being uninvited residents on their land and of our responsibility to work to dismantle the ongoing impact of settler colonialism. Following the discovery, the acknowledgment went deeper to lift up the generational trauma of the victims and families of survivors of the residential school system, and the work of the congregation to be in good relationship with the areas native communities also deepened. 

Each year, September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, an important step in reconciliation, and Orange Shirt Day, an Indigenous-led public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools. Approximately 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families, placed in residential schools, stripped of their culture, language and identities, their names changed, and hair shorn. They were forbidden to speak their own languages, suffered horrific abuses and poor conditions, and several thousand died. I was never taught a single thing about residential schools when I was in school. 
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In the wake of this upswell of awareness, engagement, and response to the tireless work of leaders across Canada, on Saturday, November 27, 2021, 95% of the 104 Canadian Unitarian Universalist delegates to a special meeting of the CUC voted in favor of the motion to approve adding an 8th Principle to the current Seven Principles (bit.ly/cuc7prin) with language modified to the Canadian context. It reads: 

Truth, healing and reconciliation, dismantling racism and oppressive systems of colonial and white supremacy is a long and deeply spiritual process of self-awareness and relationship-building. I am committed to the work of dismantling racism and systemic barriers to full inclusion in myself, in our congregations and in society at large. May we all continue to learn, grow heal, and live into the dream of beloved community. ​

The Antiracism Literacy Partners (ALP) program is a group spiritual practice that seeks to embody the values, mission, and ends of Unity Church; and specifically, this ends statement: Create brave space for racial healing and dismantling dominant culture. Learn more about the Antiracism Literacy Partners program, and the five resources offered in the January session. Contact ALP Team Leader Becky Gonzalez-Campoy with questions: [email protected]. ​

In November 2023, the Unity Church Art Team featured a Parish Hall exhibit of artwork by Rose and Melvin Smith, esteemed elders in the African American artist community of the Twin Cities. It was the culmination of a journey that began in 2021 when the art team sought these artists out hoping to purchase one of their paintings. After visiting with the art team and touring Unity to see the permanent art collection, Rose and Melvin agreed to sell one of Rose’s fine paintings, an image of a woman she met in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. That painting now hangs in the Center Room. 

The Smiths told us they were impressed with Unity and wanted to thank our church community for its commitment to promoting the arts. Their interest and ours resulted in an exhibition of their most recent work, none of which had ever been shown. 

Over the years, the artist couple has exhibited several times in New York City; their works depicting scenes and impressions of life in the history of the Rondo neighborhood are currently being featured in a Manhattan gallery. They have also exhibited in Chicago, Oklahoma, and at the Weisman Museum in Minneapolis. It has been a privilege to have them exhibit new work at Unity Church. Rose’s latest is a series of canvases capturing flowers arranged in the style of the Japanese art form, Ikebana. Melvin’s colorful collages were inspired by the classical American dance form the Jitterbug.

Why did the art team reach out to these particular artists? In addition to the quality of the work, the team looks to questions prompted by Unity’s Ends Statements (2018) in considering the criteria to use in selecting artists for this program: 

• How does art relate to the creation of a multicultural spiritual home built on authentic relationships? 
• How does art help people know each other in all their fullness and create an ever-widening circle of belonging for all people?
• How does art help in the pursuit of justice, wholeness, and equity for the people of the earth and life on it?
• How can art create brave space for racial healing and dismantling dominant culture?

If our ends statements plus Unity’s mission to “transformation through a free and inclusive religious community …” are to be taken seriously, then the art team is determined to move forward on them. What shows that movement up to this point?
Not only have we shown and continue to invite artists of greater diversity regarding ethnicity, race, gender, culture, religion, sexual identity, socioeconomic, physical ability, and neurodiversity to participate in Unity’s monthly exhibitions but we have also expanded the church’s permanent art collection featured throughout the building to include this diversity. There are now many more artists from our greater community represented on our walls including artists of color, LGBTQ+, Hmong, Karen, and more. 

In 2022, Mica Lee Anders, a Rondo neighbor and accomplished artist and educator, led a group of Unity volunteers to create an eye-catching new Foote Room mural. The shape of the overall design is familiar to Unitarian Universalists — a chalice. In October 2023, the Parish Hall featured works created by artists incarcerated in Minnesota correctional facilities. These talented artists claim roots in a variety of ethnicities and cultures. Art From the Inside, the organization that brought them here, was able to hold a successful fundraiser at Unity, and was the recipient of a Sunday offering —another example of how the art team strives to act on our ends. 

We know there is much more to do, but it is exciting and rewarding work. The art team urges everyone at Unity Church to be curious. Take a moment to look at the artwork as you wander through the hallways or gather for a meeting. Chances are you are seeing art that represents the concerns, ideas, thoughts, and/or feelings of a member of our greater Beloved Community. That should be reason enough to take notice.