Christine Jamieson, Montreal

I want to begin by quoting an Indigenous Mexican who is a nomadic storyteller. His name is Gustavo Estava. [As quoted in Michael Saccro, “Building Intercultural Bridges: ChocoSol Horizontal Traders Exploring the Stepping Stones Beyond the Fair Trade Model,” InterCulture, October 2008, 12.]

Here are his words:

“What we need today is not more critiques of how the system does not work . . . for there are many excellent critiques . . . [W]hat people need, what ordinary men and women need, are examples of alternatives. Examples of people who amidst all the chaos are incarnating alternatives, so that we can know that something makes sense and that if others can act on it, so can we.”

I believe this is what Remi De Roo brought to his encounters with many peoples. But I wish to focus on his encounter with Indigenous peoples who he worked with and was an ally among. In his approach to social justice, he brought incarnated alternatives in his very person and in his positive approach to the world he was entering. He wanted to listen. He wanted the circle to be the model or the symbol that directed relationships rather than a hierarchy.

This brings to mind two points:

First, Pope John XXIII’s vision presented something distinctly different when he convened the Second Vatican Council. It was a vision stemming from a deep conviction that human beings are essentially good and so the world also is essentially good. Thus, the pastoral council was first of all to approach the world with open hearts rather than condemnation.

Second, Remi De Roo recognized and was deeply moved by this vision. He moved forward in his life and vocation following that vision. It was a vision that shaped his sense of social justice.

His personal motto, “to build in love” is a concrete example of what would direct him throughout his entire vocation and indeed his entire life. He shared something of the sensibility of Indigenous peoples and they recognized that.

His encounter with Indigenous peoples on Vancouver Island solidified this social justice approach as he found welcoming, appreciative, encounters. Encounter is a key word. To truly encounter another is to listen to them and to see them and welcome who they are. Remi De Roo did this. Indigenous peoples also listened to him and heard him. He became a trusted Elder and a member of a First Nations community on Vancouver Island.

Bishop Remi was adopted by Indigenous peoples and given the name “Siem LePleet S’HWUWQUN,” Great High Priest White Swan. Chiefs from many different Indigenous Nations attended that ceremony and Remi was welcomed as a member of their communities. I believe his willingness to truly encounter Indigenous peoples on Vancouver Island opened the hearts of the people.

They knew he was honest, wise, humble, brave, truthful, respectful, and loving. He concretely acted from and embodied these sacred teachings that express the core of what many Indigenous peoples consider is needed to be a good and just person, to walk a good and just road. They recognized in Bishop Remi, a good and just man.

His social justice manifested in his concrete engagement as an ally of indigenous peoples not only on Vancouver Island but throughout Canada and even beyond. It was witnessed when he presented at the Alaska Native Review Commission’s Round Table on “The Place of Native Peoples in the Western World.” Here, he was not afraid to name the evil of colonialism or recall the horrors that so many Indigenous peoples suffered not only at the hands of the government, but also at the hands of the Christian churches and their missionaries. The kind of physical and spiritual violence that was perpetrated on Indigenous peoples continues today, among Christians. This was a constant source of sadness for Remi and an imperative to speak truth to power.

Remi understood deeply that the Churches and missionaries did not bring God to “godless” people. He knew that the Creator was already encountered and lived in relationship to Indigenous people long before Christian missionaries arrived. Naming the evils was only one component of his important message. The other was to recognize the richness of Indigenous cultures and all they have to teach the Western world. I suspect as the son of a farmer; Remi came to value the land in a unique and unusual manner compared to most Euro-Western people who have little connection to the land. This land connection was hugely valuable in helping Remi to understand Indigenous peoples’ relationship to the land and all that relationship entails. He quoted Chief T’Selie of Fort Good Hope in his Round Table presentation: “By scheming to torture my land, you are torturing me. By plotting to invade my land, you are invading me. If you ever dig a trench through my land, you are cutting through me.”

The land is the very identity of Indigenous peoples, it is their very being. Indigenous peoples understand, as Remi De Roo also clearly understood, the land and all it is made up of, all the creatures on the land, is a gift from the Creator. Indigenous people understand the importance of these gifts. Their lives, certainly before the onslaught of colonialism, reflected gratitude for this gift. Gratitude is still the foundation of Indigenous peoples’ relationship to the land.

This is the other side of Remi’s critiques, this is his alternative – a profound recognition of the richness, and value that Indigenous peoples’ ways of being and acting in the world represent and how much we need to learn from them if we are to survive in this world. The alternative is also reflected in Remi’s concrete suggestions and the possibilities he raised of how Indigenous and non-Indigenous Christians and all people can walk together in a good way, in a way that will go far in addressing the many challenges we face today. In my view, this recognition was the undertow of Remi De Roo’s social justice in his relationship with Indigenous peoples.