Natives and churches team up

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The White Buffalo Society kicked off Edmonton's launch of an international initiative that aims to return Aboriginal land to its original inhabitants and to clean up Mother Earth.

On Oct. 19, City Hall saw the Edmonton Ecumenical Jubilee 2000 Committee launch the third international jubilee initiative - The Renewal of the Earth.

Individuals from the Catholic Council of Development and Peace, the Ten Days for Global Justice group, Change for Children group, Dutch Christian Reformed Church, United Church and the Aboriginal Coalition, which is a sub-committee of the jubilee initiative, make up the committee members.

"The third-year theme is the renewal of the earth, so we looked at that context here in Canada," said committee member Linda Winski from the Catholic Council of Development and Peace.

"Most Indigenous people throughout the world have been displaced from their land and there is a link there because Indigenous people have a very strong spiritual connection to the land," said Winski. "Those two dimensions (ecology and Native land claims) were the theme for the education action program for this year."

The ceremonies included a powwow by the White Buffalo Society. The committee initiated an Aboriginal land rights petition at the event.