Ray Aldred is Assistant Professor of Theology at Ambrose. He is working

at the national level on the resolution of native land claims. Here is his reflection as a Cree Christian on this significant issue.

"I am sitting in a room at Messiah College.  It is January 22, 2008, the 40 year anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.  I am here to speak about the issue of economic justice. Some think that Martin Luther King Jr.  was assassinated because he rocked the boat and called into question the status quo. But the cause of Christ, that justice would roll down like a river, was more than seemingly Christian nation would stand, and so he was killed. The prophet is always killed, so it is with those who critique the popular theology of our world.  I am here to try and give voice to issues that some would like to see go away. I, too, would like to see them go away. There are over 800 land claims in Canada. At the current rate of redress, it will take over 500 years to settle them.  This is not economic justice, but why does it take so long for those who are in power to do justice?  My work with the Aboriginal Ministry Council is to try and add our voice to many others in order to help our country move toward justice, wholeness, and rightness by honouring the land claims. To this end, we are attempting to do many things. We are producing a suicide prevention DVD. We are writing material in hopes of helping give vision to what it would be like if we resolved the land claims and if there was meaningful self-government among out aboriginal people. All in hopes of seeing Christ transform a western culture that has become focused upon the autonomous individual. I am just one voice, and I add mine to many women and men from across Canada and attempt to make a difference, to continue a conversation, that in our relations we might see wholeness, soundness, and justice. To this end, we have met on many occasions with MPs in Ottawa, aboriginal leaders from across Canada, and others in an attempt to help rewrite or write a new chapter in the story of the people who live in a land called Canada. So in May of 2007 I was able to do some teaching on reconciliation at the Parliamentary prayer breakfast on Parliament Hill. In February 2008 I will be at the presidential prayer breakfast in Washington, DC, to add my presence with many others to pray for the land. I say all this not to boast in anything except that God is faithful in watching out for those who are beset with difficulties. Without land a people cannot survive, so we pray that God would heal our land. My desire is to see the Church stand with First Nations and see that the Church is walking humbly with God and doing justice. I sit in a room at Messiah College and wonder and pray that God would establish the work of our hands."

- Ray Aldred