Voices of Transformative Hope

Voices of Transformative Hope

[Update Sept 20, 2012: Due to a family emergency, Joy Kogawa will not be able to attend this event.  Click here for updated information about this public lecture.]

Principal Maylanne Maybee writes:

When the CCS Central Council reviewed the proposed program for the 120th Anniversary Weekend, they made a point of suggesting an event that would appeal not only to the CCS constituency but also reach out into the wider community. The Anniversary is not just about an institution, but about our shared diaconal vocation to “transform the church and the world toward wholeness, justice, and compassion”. After some thought and inquiries, it seemed inspired to invite Joy Kogawa and Stan McKay to share their spiritual journey in conversation with the public and with one another – two prophetic voices and two very different stories, yet held together by themes of struggle, hope, and transformation.

CCS is blessed by their generous acceptance of this invitation, and by their close association with our school. Joy was a student at the Anglican Women’s Training College in 1956, then located at 217 St. George St. in Toronto. And Stan has been a long time friend and neighbour of CCS – in his days as director of the Dr. Jessie Saulteaux Resource Centre, in his role as Moderator of the United Church of Canada from 1992-1994, and as a wise elder and supporter of CCS Learning Circles and educational events.

You are encouraged to come for the Anniversary Weekend in time for this evening of dialogue and deep learning, and to publicize this event among your networks in and near Winnipeg.

A brief bio of each speaker follows:

Joy Kogawa was born in Vancouver in 1935. As a child she was sent with her family to the internment camp for Japanese Canadians at Slocan, British Columbia during World War II – an experience she describes in her semi-autobiographical novel Obasan, later adapted for children with the title, Naomi’s Road.

Joy has worked to educate Canadians about the history of internment camps, and took an active role in advocating for government redress.
Joy is a poet, a person of Spirit, and a deep reflector. In her own words, she has sought to “find the goddess of mercy in hell” and learned that our “best friend is in the enemy”. She is currently working on her next book, Gently to Nagasaki.

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Stan McKay was born in Fisher River First Nation Reserve in northern Manitoba. As a child he attended Fisher River Indian Day School and the Birtle Indian Residential School. Stan’s adult life has been focused on teaching and spiritual guidance as a source of healing for individuals and for communities. Stan is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada, and served as Moderator from 1992 to 1994, the first Indigenous person to lead a mainline denomination in Canada.

Stan has been director of the Dr. Jessie Saulteaux Resource Centre in Beausejour, Manitoba, director of Spiritual Care at Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg, and First Nations advisor on Education, Health and Development in Manitoba.

He is known widely as a wise teacher and elder, striving to educate Canadians about the consequences of colonialism in Canada, and especially the policy of assimilation and residential schools, and to bring about healing to the deep harm caused to Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians alike.

Download a PDF poster for the Voices of TRANSFORMATIVE HOPE public event to send to your friends.