Panel shares experiences translating Bible into Blackfoot
Calgary, Alta.
The 12th Indigenous Anglican Sacred Circle opened Aug. 5 with a call by National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop Chris Harper for those gathered to take an active role in serving their communities, humbly spreading the message of God’s love.
Harper made the call during his sermon at the opening worship service of the national gathering of Indigenous Anglicans, taking place this week at the University of Calgary on Treaty 7 territory. More than 150 Anglicans have gathered for this session of Sacred Circle, themed “Resurgence Beyond the Treeline.” Along with delegates and members of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP), those present included the primate, some General Synod staff members, ecumenical partners, international guests and representatives of the diocese of Calgary, the Anglican Foundation of Canada and Alongside Hope.
In his sermon, Harper noted that Sacred Circle was meeting at a time of change for the Anglican Church of Canada and new developments including the June 26 election of Archbishop Shane Parker as its 15th primate.
When he first became a bishop, Harper said, his mother often asked him who he needed to get permission from to make decisions. “After three months of that, I asked, ‘Mom, why is it so hard for you to believe that I’m the bishop? I get to make these words and these choices, especially for the diocese.’ My mother said, ‘That’s because that was never afforded to us, never given to us. We didn’t have that right. That was given to the white bishops, not to us.’”
“Tradition changes,” Harper said. “The ways we do things change, and have to … We are a living people. We are not a cement tomb and monument to the past. Especially for us as Indigenous people, that is one thing that we need to remember.”
Harper said God had put each person on earth for a unique purpose. “You have a ministry that no one else can do,” he said of each person at Sacred Circle.
“The Almighty has called you here today so that we can walk together in humility and be a blessing … When we are done here, you will go into your communities and you will tell everybody what you learned,” Harper said. “You’ll talk to the young people and say, ‘God loves you so much. You have a place and a purpose in life.’”
“We are called to humility, to prayer because we are called to serve the community … We are here for the community of our peoples,” he added. “We are here to build a new community together. We are here to remember, to rejoice and to celebrate who we are as a people in God.”
Welcome and opening Eucharist
The first day of Sacred Circle began with the lighting of the sacred fire at 7 a.m. outside the university’s McEwan Hall, where participants are holding their discussions over the week. The sacred fire, which is overseen by firekeepers, burns throughout the meeting as a symbol of the community gathering.
Chief Vincent Yellow Old Woman, an elder and residential school survivor who served as chief of Siksika Nation from 2013 to 2016, and subsequently as a tribal councillor, welcomed Sacred Circle to the territory.
“God is good,” he said, inviting participants to “relax and enjoy what God has to offer you in this assembly … You’re here to get rejuvenated and get excited in the calling that our creator has given to us.”
Opening worship began with Canon Tom Mugford, the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador’s canon for Indigenous Ministries and Advocacy, and Bishop Ann Martha Keenainak, suffragan bishop of the Arctic, lighting an oil lamp at the altar. For centuries, Mugford said, Inuit lit oil lamps typically made from seal oil as a means of staying warm, cooking food, drying clothing and gathering people.
“We light this today in memory of those who aren’t with us today,” Mugford said. “We carry the light and the flame because the flame is life-giving.” As with the sacred fire, he said, “The flame provides light and life to all of us. And what a beautiful suggestion to be present, to be here and to feel the presence of the Almighty.”
Before the Eucharist, Harper and Parker presented the Anglican Award of Merit to Teresa Mandricks, who worked for 35 years as program assistant in Indigenous Ministries before her retirement in 2024.
Blackfoot translation Q&A
The afternoon featured a panel with members of a team working to translate the Bible into the Blackfoot language. The translation project is a partnership with two charities—Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Canadian Bible Society—which provide financial support as well as other assistance such as recording equipment.
Translators included Yellow Old Woman, ACIP co-chair Rosie Jane Tailfeathers, Sylvia Tailfeathers and Myrna Stevens. The panel spoke to Sacred Circle about their experience of the project, which also involves audio recording to accompany the printed text.
“It’s been quite the journey,” said Rosie Jane Tailfeathers, a residential school survivor whose first language was Blackfoot and who maintained her knowledge of the language even after she began attending public school in Alberta.
She described translating the Bible into Blackfoot as a “dream,” noting she found inspiration in the 2012 Inuktitut Bible translation produced by clergy from the diocese of the Arctic.
“The dream is a reality now,” Tailfeathers said. “I’m really proud to say that we’re working on the Bible.” The Blackfoot translation is still in its early stages, with Tailfeathers noting that the team is currently translating the gospel of Luke.
“I’m having the time of my life,” Yellow Old Woman said of the project. “I’m really enjoying translation. It’s just a wonderful thing … I just felt like God has given to all of us an opportunity, a legacy that we can leave behind with our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren so they can hear papa’s voice, grandma’s voice and so forth. When they see the Bible in Blackfoot, they can be happy and proud knowing that their grandpa and their grandma had an opportunity in putting this together.”
During a question-and-answer period, Sacred Circle member Judith Moses asked whether the Blackfoot language is evolving, particularly among youth, and how that impacts the translation.
Tailfeathers said that in her former profession as a teacher, students had the option of Blackfoot immersion from kindergarten to Grade 12. “Groups of kids are retaining the Blackfoot language in that way,” she said. “I don’t know if they’re still doing it, but that’s what they were doing for many, many years, and there’s quite a few young Blackfoot speakers that we have on our reserve.”
Yellow Old Woman said he was often introduced at home as “the old-style Blackfoot speaker,” but added, “The Creator gave us the Blackfoot language, so he will help us get the right word in there.”
Archdeacon Jacqui Durand, the diocese of Calgary’s archdeacon of Indigenous Ministries who introduced the panel, said translators want to avoid ending up with a translation that will seem archaic, like the King James Version of the Bible. The early modern English in which that translation is written, she said, makes it as inaccessible as many youth today view the works of Shakespeare.
“That is something that we’re sensitive to,” she said. “The translators have discussed the best way to translate now in contemporary Blackfoot—as opposed to the older Blackfoot that Vincent mentioned—with the idea that young people in 10 years would still be able to access the language in a way that they could understand it.”
Expectations for Sacred Circle
The Anglican Journal approached numerous members of General Synod, all of whom were attending for the first time, to ask about their hopes and expectations for the week. Each said they weren’t sure what to expect.
Bishop Morris Fiddler, suffragan bishop for northern Ontario in the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh, had attended previous gatherings of Sacred Circle. Fiddler said he hoped the present Sacred Circle would discuss Bill C-5, also known as the One Canadian Economy Act, which received royal assent to become law on June 26.
Bill C-5 allows the federal government to ignore regulations such as the Canadian Environmental Protection Act if it decides doing so is in the “public interest.” Many Indigenous groups have expressed unease about the law. “First Nations are very concerned that this proposal may violate many collective rights,” Assembly of First Nations National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak said in early June.
“We talked about helping Jerusalem and Gaza at the General Synod,” Fiddler said. “We didn’t talk about how we’re going to help the First Nations people of Canada. I think we need to come up with something in this country and we need to talk about how the Anglican Church of Canada [can] help the First Nations people.”
Fiddler also hoped that Sacred Circle would tell the new primate what it expects from the wider Anglican Church of Canada.
“A lot of our First Nations people [want] not separation from the church, but to have our say-so in the Anglican Church,” Fiddler said. “We don’t necessarily agree with everything the Anglican Church does or agrees with.”
“It’s good that we have our own space where we can talk about those issues we don’t agree with… I’ve been involved with the Anglican Church for the last 30 years, and we’ve come a long way to make our voices heard,” he added. “It’s a good feeling, but we still have a ways to go.”
Sacred Circle runs until Aug. 10.
