As people of faith, how are we able to bring awareness to discrimination to improve interreligious relationships within our society and our world?

Dialogue of Everyday Life

Dialogue of Theological Exchange

Dialogue of Religious Experience

Dialogue of Action

What message are you trying to get across at the conference? What is the purpose for the conference?
The message trying to be conveyed at this conference is the Abrahamic faiths of Canada coming together to talk about the issues surrounding the First Nations peoples. The purpose is to find solutions to better their quality of life and bring all of Canada as one accepting community, without the Indigenous people in isolation. This is a way to model the Ecumenical Movement and follow in its footsteps.


Examples of similarities that the world religions share with specific reference to core beliefs relating to peace and human dignity. All world religions believe in a higher power. This may be God or Allah or the Great Spirit. Through this higher power, we were all created equally and with purpose. All the religions have some way to teach morality through sacred texts. All moral teachings include how to live a peaceful life using guidance from those who are seen as teacher figures in that faith.

Activities to participate as a community

Using the Gospel of John 21:15-17 (provided) reflect on the real-world issues that were presented in this culminating and how you can resolve it with DIALOGUE OF ACTION as well as the foundations of our faith and the core themes of this course.

How would the 4 Ground Rules for living together guide my thinking in the campaign? Relate the 4 Ground Rules to the issues presented in the article.The 4 Ground Rules for living together are a great influence in thinking about different aspects of my campaign. As a whole this is about coming together as a community to solve issues in our Canadian society, to do so, respect must be established for one another. The article discusses how poorly Indigenous peoples are treated and how they are treated differently from the rest of Canada. Through poor healthcare services, Indigenous women’s rights, and deterioration of youth mental wellbeing, it seems as though this group is being targeted of neglect due to who they are and their beliefs. Respect for their culture and spiritual beliefs are not being respected. Others stance and opinion of their faith has been automatically given negative connotations. In the past, we have seen others trying to change their religion through the assimilation the Indigenous faced, not too many years ago. The treatment of the First Nations is not representative of peace and social justice as healthcare is being neglected and proper living conditions aren't being given. There is no tolerance being created, not allowing a functioning society to flourish

How can we work in solidarity with other faith groups to create mutual understanding and respect? Be sure to connect how the 4 Types of Interreligious Dialogue were or were not used in relation to the articles.
Together, a community is stronger, no matter religious or cultural background. The importance of working on solidarity is to maintain a common goal and respect for each other to be able to achieve that goal. By allowing people of different faith groups collaborate, different religious views and opinions may be a challenge and result in conflict on how to approach and create solutions to this issue. It is important that everyone’s ideas are heard, and compromise is fulfilled. This article shows no dialogue or attempt to find solutions other than what Dr. Thomas stated about a need for leadership. It is not stated how people are trying to improve the discrimination against First Nations and how a community is being built to do to. This is why bringing awareness to these issues is so important. In comparison to other articles, many stated how there are marches occurring to protest against issues that are very worldwide and known to the public eye. The issue surrounding Indigenous peoples is very hushed and voices aren’t speaking up to teach others about what is going on. Canada is a very diverse country where multiculturalism is widely believed and something we are proud of, but as these issues occur, how are we living up to the label of “multicultural” as people are not being accepted in their own home?

Refer to the following Ninian Smart’s Dimensions: 1. Doctrinal Dimension (creeds, central beliefs, nature of the divine etc.), 2. Mythological Dimension (sacred texts, creation stories, stories of Abraham, Jesus, Muhammad, etc.), 3. Ethical Dimension (moral laws etc.).

When comparing the Abrahamic faiths to Indigenous Spirituality, many differences can be outlined because of different belief origins and their different approach to faith. As the Abrahamic faiths all believe in God, Indigenous Spirituality believes in the Great Spirit, who is the Creator of all things, just as how we view God. Overall, beliefs pertaining to Indigenous Spirituality are very connected to nature and how the Great Spirit lives in all things in nature. The First Nations are very in tune with the messages and teaching they can learn from their doctrine, nature and the Great Spirit.

When discussing the Mythological Dimension, differences can also be found here too. Sacred texts in the Abrahamic faiths include literature as seen in the Bible, Tanakh, and Qur’an. However, this isn’t the same in First Nation beliefs as they use the Medicine Wheel. The Medicine Wheel is not literature but symbolic of spiritual teachings as most lessons are taught by word of mouth. Creation stories have similar origins as all include the story of Abraham’s covenant in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. In Indigenous Spirituality, creation stories may differ due to tribes.

Moral laws in the Ethical Dimension for Indigenous Spirituality are very community based including the moral teaching that everything is shared, and everyone is included. Whereas in the Abrahamic faiths, moral laws can be community based, but they also are very personally oriented and an individual can thrive independently

Apply this to the issue of discrimination and intolerance
As mentioned, there are many differences between these more common world religions than Indigenous Spirituality. This leads me to believe that due to these differences in way of life and religious beliefs, it results in the added social discrimination as these views may seen to others are “not normal” or “odd”. This opinion leads to the intolerance of Indigenous Spirituality, ultimately resulting in the lack of human dignity toward the First Nations

Another shared activity that the community could participate in is the Harvest Feast. This ritual is a way to give thanks to all those who worked hard to get people food. This ceremony could be commonly enjoyed by every religion as a community having a meal together is commonly significant in many of the world religions

One of the Indigenous teaching that a community could participate in together can be the Seven Grandfather Teachings. Although not a physical teaching, this can tie into the Experiential Dimension. These teachings and the story tied along with it serves as a way of life for the Indigenous people. All these skills are universal themes that everyone should implement in their daily life. To learn these teachings is a beautiful story and it sends a great message for everyone despite differences in religious background. This would be a great activity to learn about as a community.

This issue presented in the article I chose was the neglect and discrimination of the First Nations people of Canada and how this has negatively impacted the Indigenous community. Due to intolerance, the First Nations are receiving a lack of healthcare, disregard for Indigenous women’s rights, higher newborn mortality rates than the rest of Canada, and increased rates of suicides seen in youth along with a poor education system. The government is not giving the Indigenous peoples the human dignity they deserve, resulting in social injustice.

The foundations of our faith as stated in Mark 12, “ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Are not being fulfilled. To love God is to love our neighbor, meaning to disrespect our neighbor, is to disrespect God. There have been movement, such as Truth and Reconciliation that are trying to fix history’s mistakes and make it up to the First Nations. But this cannot occur when what is written in the article continues to occur. To make amends is to full heartedly want to make this situation better and improve the live of the Indigenous. As the living conditions on the reserves continues to deteriorate, reconciliation is an impossible achievement. Lives are being lost and action needs to occur. I believe that as a country we need to do better in recognizing that just as we accept incoming people to Canada, we also need to accept those who already live here. Awareness about what is happening needs to become mainstream instead of the newest celebrity gossip. In my own life, I can bring this issue to my school. Bringing awareness starts locally. Creating school initiatives to raise money for the organizations that are actually trying to help can spread the message and reach further out into society.