Abstract
Subjected to centuries of European colonization and cultural genocide (involving the residential school system operated by Christians), the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island (known to settler populations as North America) must undertake the spiritual journey of self-decolonization and retrieval of their Indigenous identity and culture. As Iris de Leon-Hartshorn testifies, “for those of us indigenous to North America, much of our heritage has been taken from us and our rootedness disrupted or even destroyed, with devastating effects on our bodies, souls, and minds – and our communities” (“Renewing Body, Soul, and Mind,” 31). Uprootedness and relentless struggle for survival against colonial forces thus characterize Indigenous spirituality. The challenge placed before Indigenous communities is that of fostering healing through reconnection and re-enchantment; reconnection with ancestral lands, traditions and communities, and re-enchantment of secularized settler cultures and societies (with which they inevitably interact and which they have appropriated/integrated). The study shows that reconnecting with the spiritual dimension of the human being and creation as a whole, and (re-)learning Indigenous mother tongues (the languages bespeaking both Earth and Spirit) are daunting and necessary tasks, if Indigenous communities are to build living present and future, by following the journey of four siblings from the Dene nation, survivors of the 1960s “scoop” (the Canadian government’s forceful removal of thousands of Indigenous children from their biological families to set them in adoptive settler families) as featured in Indigenous director Tasha Hubbard’s documentary film “Birth of a Family” (2017) and feature film “Meadowlarks” (2025).
Presenters
Jean-Pierre FortinAssociate Professor of Practical Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of St. Michael's College, Ontario, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2026 Special Focus—Indigenous Spiritualities in Global Perspective
KEYWORDS
Colonialism, Indigenous Spirituality, Uprootedness, Re-Enchantment, Dene Nation, Tasha Hubbard, Canada
