Crosstalk’s events calendar has looked different during the pandemic, but now that it is possible to gather again, it is a joy to once again be able to help promote parish events, whether they are in-person or online. Please send us the details of your event via the communications form on the diocesan website, and your event can also be listed on the website’s online events calendar to help reach more people. The website page is found at form.jotform.com/OttawaAnglican/communications-request

Oct.28
Diocesan Synod – Opening Eucharist worship service

7 p.m. Christ Church Cathedral,
414 Sparks Street, Ottawa
Register for In-Person Synod Eucharist: https://rsvp.church/r/Eal6UV5P
Watch the Live-Stream Synod Eucharist Online: https://www.youtube.com/c/christchurchcathedralottawa

Oct. 30
Diocesan Synod 2021 – 141 Session (Virtual)

8:30 am to 12:30 pm 

Nov. 3
Lunch and Learn on Facebook for Beginners

12 noon to 1 p.m. (with optional 30 minutes Q&A at 1pm).
Register here: https://bit.ly/3iU6qiw
Hosted by the Diocesan Stewardship Sub-Committee
Contact: Heidi Fawcett heidi-fawcett@ottawa.anglican.ca

Nov. 11
Remembrance Day 

Nov. 13 to 16
All Saints’ Westboro – Village Fair

The virtual portion of the Village Fair (following an October outdoor event) will feature frozen meals, preserves, timeless treasures and more. Call 613 725 9487 or visit  allsaintswestboro.com for details

Nov. 17
Lunch & Learn on Social Media Strategies & Plan for Advent and Christmas

11:30 a.m. or 12 p.m. until 1 p.m. (with optional 30 minutes Q&A at 1pm). Session will begin at 11:30 with an optional 30-minute Q&A from November 3 session. Or join us at 12 pm for the session on Social Media Strategies.
Register here: https://bit.ly/3zNjn4H
Hosted by the Diocesan Stewardship Sub-Committee
Contact: Heidi Fawcett heidi-fawcett@ottawa.anglican.ca

Nov. 19 and 20
Marriage Preparation Workshop

Registration is now open for our 2021-2022 Marriage Preparation Courses. We will be hosting courses on Zoom in November, February, and May. Information and Registration can be found on the Diocesan website at the link below.

The Marriage Preparation Course is designed to help participants to learn and grow through online presentations given by professional speakers, online small group discussions with trained facilitators, and couple conversations. All couples are welcome, and participation is not limited by gender, age, or previous marital status.
https://www.ottawa.anglican.ca/marriage-preparation

Nov. 28
Journeying as Allies 

2 pm – 4 p.m.
Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resilience by Monique Gray Smith
Tilly and the Crazy Eights by Monique Gray Smith
(Readers can choose one or both)
Journeying as Allies is a book discussion group created in the spirit of reconciliation. All are welcome to participate. Please contact amr.workinggroup@gmail.com to be added to our mailing list to receive Zoom connection details prior to the meetings.

Dec. 2
Lunch & Learn on Social Media
Q&A Session from the Nov. 17 Session

12:00-12:45pm.
Register here: https://bit.ly/3rIu7i7
Hosted by the Diocesan Stewardship Sub-Committee
Contact: Heidi Fawcett heidi-fawcett@ottawa.anglican.ca

Bulletin Board

Julian of Norwich Anglican Church, the location of St. Richard’s Columbarium on Merivale Road, has been the peaceful resting place for our loved ones’ cremated remains since 1995.

Our community has initiated a project to replace the 1960s-built church structure with a contemporary facility to accommodate a wide range of community programs and worship.

The Columbarium will be relocated in 2022. Families with a direct connection to the Columbarium will receive a letter explaining the process and will be asked for a decision on options being made available.

If you are, or know of a direct family member who has not received a letter by December 1, 2021, contact us in one of the following ways:

Email: julianofnorwichottawa@gmail.com
By letter: Julian of Norwich – Columbarium, 8 Withrow Avenue, Ottawa, ON  K2G 2H6

—Don Wilson, Columbarium Chair

The Galilee Retreat Centre

The Centre is now open for individual retreatants and groups. There are many programmes and directed retreats on offer too, either in person or online ( Zoom).

Check out the website www.galileecentre.com or call for the latest information 613 623 4242. The Centre is located at 398 John St N, Arnprior, ON K7S 2P6

Journeying as Allies: Books for 2021-2022

All My Relations has copies of the books for lending. Please contact amr.workinggroup@gmail.com if you would like to borrow one.

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In 1896, a mission deputation visited Long Lake (Whitney), Madawaska, Round Lake and Killaloe, expecting new mission work to open on the Ottawa, Atlantic & Parry Sound Railway (built by Ottawa lumber baron, J.R. Booth, to ship timber to the northeastern U.S.).  That new work encompassed new work already started at Whitney by George Field, a student of Trinity College.  In 1897, Whitney became part of the Mission of Douglas & Stations Along the O.A. & P.S. Railway. In 1898, the Synod of Ottawa placed a resident missionary at Killaloe, to take services at Tramore, Golden Lake, Whitney, Gillmour and Madawaska.

In 1899, the Mission of Killaloe was established—a five-point mission served in summer by a theological student. In 1908, it was divided into three separate missions: Killaloe, Madawaska and Whitney. Whitney, briefly was a single point mission, but in 1909 the amalgamated Mission of Killaloe, Madawaska and Whitney was created.

In 1911, the congregation is first called Saint Anthony’s Mission, Whitney—a name taken from the Saint Anthony Lumber Company, a major employer.  It may have been chosen because it did not sound as if it was exclusively Anglican, or Methodist, or Presbyterian, thus favouring none of the worship traditions meeting within its walls.

In 1919, Bishop Roper cancelled winter worship at Whitney, with services held instead only once a month from June to April. In 1923, the Synod Journal refers to Whitney as the “Union Church Building” and not as Saint Anthony’s.  On 25 June 1925, local Methodists and Presbyterians amalgamated to become a congregation of the United Church of Canada.

At this point the chronology becomes confused. On the one hand, the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests issued a title deed jointed to the churches of the United Church, called Saint Andrew’s Church. The province declared that the Union Church in which Anglicans formerly had worshipped could not have Anglicans appointed as trustees for the property as there was no Anglican available to fill that role.

On the other hand, the record shows the Anglican Mission of Madawaska was vacant in the early 1930s, ministered to by Church Army personnel.  By 1955, Saint Anthony’s, Whitney was attached to Combermere parish, but they still worshipped in the Union Church which Anglicans called Saint Anthony’s Church, while United Church people called it Saint Andrew’s. 

If you would like to help the Archives preserve the records of the Diocese and its parishes, why not  become a Friend of the Archives?  Your $20 membership brings you three issues of the lively, informative Newsletter, and you will receive a tax receipt for further donations above that amount. 

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The program is based at Trinity Anglican Church in Ottawa, but it is inclusive and open to everyone and has built quite the virtual community, growing every week. Since it is online, distance is no problem. Here are some thoughts from our participants about what ‘Seniors in Conversation’ has meant to them.

“I have enjoyed ‘Seniors in Conversation’ since it began. It was sponsored by my church, Trinity Anglican in Old Ottawa South, so I looked forward every week to seeing many other people from my church and chatting on Zoom. The series has had so many interesting speakers, as well as singers and comedians. ‘Seniors in Conversation’ is inked in on my calendar for as long as it is available.”

— Sue Cherry

“ I had a sabbatical this year, but all of my plans for travel, conferences, and research were side-lined. I found myself, like so many people did, cut off from my work colleagues, isolated from valued social connections, and worried constantly about my mother in long-term-care. There were bright spots. During the pandemic, my week has always properly started on Tuesday mornings at 10 a.m. with ‘Seniors in Conversation,’ which is actually an enjoyable use of Zoom (well that, and church services, too—thank you Revs. Aaron and Mark). I love learning, and the well-organized variety of topics and speakers keeps me coming back: history, health, politics, art, epidemiology, travel, music and many more. I am so grateful for this community-oriented learning opportunity.”

— Beth Hughes

“I’m a U.S. citizen who fortunately found her way to ‘Seniors in Conversation.’ The Zoom modality makes it very easy to learn about new topics from experts whom I never would have otherwise met. As well, the people attending these events are delightful, thoughtful, intelligent, and friendly individuals. I have fun engaging with the speakers and the attendees and learn something new to boot! It feels like I have found a new community that is nurturing to my soul. I highly recommend attending ‘Seniors in Conversation’.”

— Annette Kay Donnell

“I was referred to ‘Seniors in Conversation’ by my daughter who used to live in Old Ottawa South and read about the program in the OSCAR. I registered just before Christmas last year and have ‘Zoomed in’ fairly regularly since then. I have found the guest speakers and programs to be interesting, educational, entertaining and sometimes inspirational. In my opinion, ‘Seniors in Conversation’ meets a need in the community.”

— Ron Doll

“When I first signed into the Zoom invitation for ‘Seniors in Conversation,’ I had no way of knowing what a lifeline and support this Tuesday morning ritual would become. That first Tuesday, faced with all those strangers in the little Zoom boxes, felt surreal. But week by week, those faces eventually became real people who I recognized and was learning to know, who greeted me warmly, and continued to surprise me with their insightful and thoughtful comments and conversation. I always left the Zoom time feeling encouraged and — most importantly — less alone in all of this craziness we’re living through. 

— Lorna Unger

To register for a “Seniors in Conversation,” please email seniors@trinityottawa.ca with your name, phone number and postal address. Remember, everyone is welcome to attend. For updates or to see our upcoming schedule, follow us on Facebook at @SeniorsInConversation or on Twitter at @RSOOS_Trinity. 

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This past year as a YIP intern in St. John the Baptist has been one of the greatest learning experiences for me. I met new people who bring different opinions and experiences to the table, I learned about church politics, and I had a front-row seat to one of the biggest transitions in my church. As a young intern taking a seat at the table with the adults, this past year has also taught me a lot about human behaviour and how our church views change and modern society. I spent most of the first three months only listening and observing while the adults talked their talk. It was really hard to fit in, but with the help of Donna and my supervisor Don, I was able to finally be able to fit in, be heard and get my ideas on the table. 

Our society’s values have changed, and we are at a time where young adults don’t just follow the rules and do what they are told without questioning the basis of the rules, and the church is trying to adapt to these modern changes and keep up with the youth. Because of the COVID-19 situation, the Diocesan Synod meeting was held virtually, which was really sad because it was one of the weekends I was really excited to attend. (I heard the food was always good!) My parish did their best to adapt to the changes that the pandemic caused, and we started sanitizing everything and promoting social distancing, but it became really difficult to connect with the other people in the parish. After all humans are social beings!!

 I had different expectations for my placement, but if I had to do it all over, I wouldn’t change a thing. I learned more than I expected and saw true leaders in real life difficult situations. 

I really want to thank the whole parish council and especially my supervisor Donald Veilleux for being so patient and guiding me through everything. A special thank you to Donna, our YIP program director, for supporting me and teaching me how to be heard and seen as a young person in the adults’ table.

Maritsa was an Intern for St John the Baptist in Ottawa in last year’s program.

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We began a new year of the Youth Internship Program (YIP) with a day retreat at the beautiful parish of St. Aidan’s and want to thank the parish for generously allowing us to gather in their wonderful space.

This year we have 10 interns participating in the Youth Internship Program:  Alex, Claire, Deborah, Étienne, Fares, Jane and Theodora, with Aimé, Ujuamara (Alex) and Naomi returning for a second time. 

The Rev. Geoff Chapman and the Rev. Arran Thorpe continue to be part of our Faith Formation Team, and Breanna Pizzuto from Talk Tools is the main leadership facilitator.

Bishop Shane joined us for the morning. The Rev. Jonathan Askwith spent the day with us as a member of the YIP Advisory Committee. The Rev. Rosemary Parker dropped by to welcome us to St Aidan’s, and Breanna Pizzuto joined us in the later part of the afternoon. 

We were also joined by Maritsa and Lauren, two of our alumni.  Lauren was our photographer for the day. 

Although the weather was rainy, and we had to make a few adjustments to our plans for the day, everyone had fun and enjoyed the opportunity to build our relationships and create our YIP community. 

In the next edition of Crosstalk, I will introduce each of the interns. We are hopeful that when we meet for our first leadership session on unconscious bias all of our interns will be able to join us. 

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The guide offers opportunities to help others by supporting seven diocesan Community Ministries — Centre 105, Centre 454, Cornerstone Housing for Women, Ottawa Pastoral Counselling Centre (OPC), Refugee Ministry, St Luke’s Table, and The Well—as they serve people living precariously, struggling with poverty or challenged by mental health issues.  

Here are a few examples: 

▶A gift of $75 can provide a hearty breakfast for one person, three days per week, for one month at Centre 105 in Cornwall, Ont.

▶A gift of $50 to Centre 454 in Ottawa will provide an individual with hygiene supplies for a month. A $500 gift will help an individual access clinical support for psychiatric disabilities and addictions.

▶A gift of $125 will provide nutritious meals for a month to a person who comes to St. Luke’s Table in Ottawa because they have to choose between paying rent and buying food.

▶A $600 gift can provide shelter for a woman in need in Ottawa for one month through Cornerstone Housing for Women.

Donors can choose which ministry to give to, or they can choose to support them all with a donation to the Today for Tomorrow campaign. With each gift, the giver will receive a personalized gift card that he or she can send out for Christmas, letting the receiver know a gift has been given in their honour. 

To make a gift online please visit www.todayfortomorrow.ca, and send a greeting card directly to the individuals you are honouring.

Watch the December issue of Crosstalk for the gift guide!

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On Sept. 22, Project Anti-racism: advancing inclusion and reconciliation in the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa officially launched into its work with an online keynote address from Laraine Kaminsky, president and CEO of the consultancy firm GlobalLK. 

The firm was hired to lead the development and training program, which is mandatory for senior staff, all clergy and all community ministry managers in the diocese.

“This is not easy work,” Kaminsky said, warning the participants that the program is “hard-hitting. It was designed that way because we all need to wake up and realize that inaction is no longer an option.”

She shared a statement that was published online after the murder of George Floyd that she said stood out in her memory from that time. “It is a privilege to educate yourself about racism instead of experiencing it.”

Even though she has more than 30 years of experience in the field educating people about diversity and inclusion, she said it is only more recently that GlobalLK has begun anti-racism education in a very formal, direct way. “I am humbled to be doing this work as a white woman,” she said, noting that her colleagues who would lead the participants through more interactive workshops are women of colour.

Kaminsky offered a more personal introduction, explaining that she was born, raised and educated in Cape Town, South Africa, during the era of apartheid, and it was that experience that made anti-racism work her passion. It was also the reason she chose to leave South Africa and to make her home in Canada.

She quickly made the point, however, that Canada is no haven from racism. She showed a clip of athlete Donovan Bailey explaining that racism in Canada is sometimes a less blatant, subtler form, “racism with a smile,” he called it.

Kaminsky said Canadians often tell her that racism will be a thing of the past, pointing to the ethnic diversity in their children’s classrooms and claim that younger generations don’t see colour.  “First of all,” she said, “not to see colour is denial. It is a macroaggression,” not something to be aspired to. Then she pointed out that the perpetrators of violent attacks in recent years against mosques and the Muslim family killed in London, Ont. this past summer were young men. It made the stark point that racism is not a generational problem, and that Canada also has its share of blatant and violent racism.

Systemic racism is embedded in our laws policies, practices, institutions and social and economic systems, Kaminsky said, noting that it leads to exclusion, inequalities and discrimination. 

“In Canada, we often don’t like to talk about privilege and power and invisible privilege, but this is a conversation we absolutely have to have.”  She encouraged the participants to read books that help readers recognize invisible privilege, recommending Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility, as an example. 

The goal of this type of education, Kaminsky said, is to take participants, who may start at various points on a spectrum of awareness that goes from denial, polarization, minimization, toward acceptance and then allyship and activism.

“Be prepared to do hard work,” she said, explaining that involves working with the mind to “be aware of racism,” with the heart “to be opposed to racism,” and finally with actions to “be anti-racist.”

“That change will only happen if you not only do your work but share your work, so that you become a community that is working as hard at this as you do other aspects of your work,” said Kaminsky.

Participants in the program continued discussions in smaller group workshops that day. The program will be one of continuing education and engagement.

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Project of Heart

For the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, Beechwood did something it has never done before. It closed its sacred space for three days in order to host the creation of a memory labyrinth made with 57,000 Project of Heart tiles painted by school children across the country in memory of children who attended Indian Residential Schools. The tiles were arranged in the labyrinth pattern, which were linked with the names of Indian Residential Schools by members of the Assembly of 7 Generations youth. One evening was reserved for survivors of the schools and Elders, but on Sept. 30, members of the public were invited to walk the labyrinth and to reflect on the children who attended the schools, those who survived and those who did not.

Calls to Action

“A number of years ago, the Vestry of the Church of the Ascension committed itself to answering the 59th Call to Action through an ongoing process of learning “about our church’s role in colonization, the history and legacy of residential schools, and why apologies to former residential school students, their families, and communities were necessary.” With God’s help, we are learning but, on September 30th, as I listened to the stories of multigenerational survivors and walked along the path lined with the Calls to Action, I was struck by how much work is yet to be done to bring healing and justice to our church and to this land. With God’s help, may it be done.” 

    —The Rev. Rhonda Waters

Beechwood also asked Dr. Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, to be a part of its events. At a press conference, she was asked about her thoughts as she walked among the tiles and read the names of the schools. “I would remember a survivor telling me what happened in that school,” she said. “In Shubenacadie, where children were abused, and babies were buried under the floorboards of the school and children would have to walk over it. In Cooper Island, there was profound sexual abuse. In Port Alberni Residential School and also in Edmonton School, where a lot of my family members would have been sent, where the abuse and malnourishment was profound. We need to remember that these were real children, and sometime that’s easy to forget.”

Kathryn Fournier, a member of the diocesan All My Relations Working Group and the granddaughter of residential school survivors herself, led a group of 11 non-Indigenous people from a hiking group she belongs to through the events at Beechwood. She said she and the people in her group found it “very moving to see the way that those children had painted those tiles and what they had put on those tiles.” She added that the sheer number of them, each representing an individual child, made it “a very powerful exhibit.”

Fournier said she was encouraged to see how well-attended the event was by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants. “There was a such wonderful mix of all sorts of people there, and I would say at least half of them were wearing orange t-shirts, so there was a real sense of community…all the people of this territory… For me, one of the single most moving and significant parts of being there was that Indigenous stories, experience, realities, and people were at the centre, the heart of the time.”

Reconciling History Tours

Beechwood holds a lot of Canadian history, as the final resting place of many prominent Canadians, such as Prime Minister Robert Borden and some key figures in the history of Indian Residential Schools. In the 1990s, Beechwood had begun erecting some plaques to offer visitors more information about people who played significant roles in Canadian history, but conversations with Blackstock convinced Beechwood that some revisions and additions were needed for a more balanced and critical view of some of that history. On Sept. 30, Beechwood offered Reconciling History Tours to the gravesites of those key figures. (There is also an online map and information so visitors can do a self-guided tour at any time.)

The plaque for Duncan Campbell Scott (1862 – 1947) now reads:

Scott is recognized as one of Canada’s Confederation Poets. His work, including several volumes of poetry and short stories, was inspired by the Canadian wilderness. He is also notorious for his 52-year career in the Department of Indian Affairs. As deputy superintendent, Scott oversaw the assimilationist Indian Residential School system for aboriginal children, stating his goal was “to get rid of the Indian problem.” In its 2015 report, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission said that the Indian Residential School system amounted to cultural genocide. 

Blackstock also found a historical ally among those buried in Beechwood. Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce (1853 – 1932), was hired by the Indian Affairs Department to report on the health conditions of the Canadian residential school system in western Canada and British Columbia. The government never released his 1907 report, but Bryce published it in 1922 under the title The Story of a National Crime: Being a Record of the Health Conditions of the Indians of Canada from 1904 to 1921. 

“I first read about Peter Bryce in John Milloy’s [1999] book A National Crime,” Blackstock explained. “I knew that there must have been people back then who knew better. Then the day before Prime Minister Harper’s apology I was on Google and realized [Bryce] was buried here, only a few kilometres away from where I live. So I came with a brightly coloured bouquet and I went to see him and thank him for what he did. I told him about our legal case [against the federal government for the inequitable provision of public services for Indigenous children] that was filed [in 2007] 100 years exactly from the time he did his report. I told him I’d be back when the kids won. Of course, the case is still going on, but the kids have won 26 out of 27 decisions, and I think we’ll win the other two this afternoon.” [Indeed, the Federal Court upheld a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal order requiring Ottawa to compensate thousands of Indigenous children who experienced discrimination by the state.]

That was the start of what could be called a beautiful friendship. Blackstock began tending to Dr. Bryce’s grave site, planting flowers and worked with Beechwood to erect a plaque about his work. “Beechwood has been amazing and is an exemplar about embracing their responsibility in reconciliation,” she said.  Dr. Bryce’s grave is now one of the most visited sites in Beechwood.

Blackstock, whose graveside work now aided by Sylvia Smith of Project of Heart, pointed out that a small orange mailbox has been added to the site. “People were coming to learn this story and they were leaving letters for Dr. Bryce …, and I would find these letters, often soaking wet, and I would take them home and dry them, …so the orange mail box was placed there on Dr. Bryce’s birthday.”

Blackstock said the people buried in Beechwood cemetery offer valuable lessons for the present. 

“One of them, and I think it is very important, is that people of the period always knew that these kids were dying,…and were being hurt. They spoke up. It wasn’t considered to be okay back then, but the government chose not to listen. And when the headlines died, the children died. That’s why it is so important when we see murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls or we see the unfuifilled Truth and Reconciliation Report, that we don’t repeat that pattern. We can’t look away until justice is done.”

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