Ian MacKenzie’s ministry was driven by concern for Indigenous justice
Archdeacon Ian MacKenzie, a priest and educator who championed justice for Indigenous Peoples over seven decades of ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada, died April 8 in Powell River, B.C. at the age of 90.
An adopted member of the Haida and Nisga’a nations, MacKenzie served parishes in Nova Scotia, Toronto, Haida Gwai and the Nass Valley, retiring in 2000 as the archdeacon of Caledonia. He was a member of the National Executive Council, now known as Council of General Synod. He also served for 21 years as a voting member of the Nisga’a Tribal Council during their negotiations for the Nisga’a Final Agreement or Nisga’a Treaty—an agreement between the Nisga’a Nation and the B.C. and federal governments that marked the first modern-day treaty in B.C. and 14th modern treaty in Canada since 1976.
From 1969 to 1971, MacKenzie was the national church’s consultant for implementing the recommendations of Charles Hendry’s landmark report Beyond Traplines, which called for solidarity between Anglicans and Indigenous people based on partnership, equality and mutual respect.
In this role, MacKenzie’s responsibilities included strengthening communications between the church and Indigenous organizations and examining ways to incorporate Indigenous perspectives in ministry and education. Beyond Traplines led to a significant shift in the Anglican Church of Canada’s policy towards Indigenous people, including the appointment of a council and co-ordinator of Indigenous ministries.
Retired dean Peter Elliott calls MacKenzie “one of the Anglican prophets,” who advocated for Indigenous self-determination through his ministry.
Prophecy in the biblical tradition, Elliot says, “is not about foretelling the future; it’s about speaking up for those who are denied justice … Ian Mackenzie, in his tireless work as a priest, seeking justice for Indigenous people, especially the Nisga’a of the Nass River, who adopted him as a brother, was doing God’s prophetic work.”
Eva Clayton, president of the Nisga’a Lisims Government, worked with MacKenzie when he served on the Nisga’a Tribal Council—the first non-Indigenous member appointed to serve on the council. MacKenzie oversaw planning for how the council would conduct elections, with Clayton supporting him through research.
“I remember him being really kind, respectful, and never displaying his anger or even just being upset … He was a very respected man within the Nisga’a Nation when he was on the tribal council,” Clayton says.
“Whenever there were general executive board meetings or even our annual Nisga’a Tribal Council conventions, he attended and he had a really good rapport with the people.”
Focus on education
Indigenous education was a major focus for MacKenzie—a Dalhousie University graduate who obtained a licentiate in sacred theology from the University of King’s College in 1959, a master’s degree in sacred theology from Union Theological Seminary in 1961 and an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Vancouver School of Theology (VST) in 2005.
As a Trinity College lecturer in 1966, MacKenzie helped organize the Trinity College Conference on the Canadian Indian. He was subsequently elected president of the Ontario Eskimo-Indian Association, the provincial branch of a Canada-wide organization open to anyone who wished to support the well-being of Indigenous people.
MacKenzie was a founding director of the University of Toronto’s Rochdale College, an experimental, student-run and free university that lasted from 1968 to 1975; the Nishnawbe Institute in Toronto; and the Native Ministries Program, now known as the Indigenous Studies Centre, at VST, which continues to offer a master of divinity degree for students pursuing ministry in Indigenous communities. He was founding president of Wilp Wilxo’oskwhl Nisga’a, a post-secondary institute in the Nisga’a Nation.
The Rev. Martin Brokenleg, who served as professor and director of the VST Native Ministries Program from 2004 to 2009, first worked with MacKenzie in 1990 when the latter taught a summer school class in Brokenleg’s home diocese of South Dakota.
“He was very gentle and used minimal nudging to encourage people,” Brokenleg says of MacKenzie, adding, “He had the gift of administration. He could think and regularly did think years ahead and schedule things years, months, weeks ahead of time—and never was flexy about it or abrasive in any way, but just would say, ‘Well, we ought to meet sometime about this,’ and so it would come. But he had been nudging people in that direction for some considerable time.”
Brokenleg says MacKenzie saw his ministry as being a conduit to create positive relationships among others, noting, “He had a real skill in empowering other people.” MacKenzie also encouraged ongoing dialogue between Indigenous people who belonged to churches and those who followed their traditional religions, participating in the annual Indian Ecumenical Conference hosted by the Stoney Nakoda people in Morley (now Mînî Thnî), Alta.
The epitome of MacKenzie’s work, for Brokenleg, was getting VST to offer its master of divinity degree for Indigenous people in a way that respected Indigenous tradition.
Brokenleg recalls one student, a traditional elder from northern B.C., who came from an oral culture. She was able to do all her work orally thanks to MacKenzie’s influence on the program, completing her degree by quoting long passages from memory in front of professors who questioned her on a variety of details.
“How he got the Association of Theological School to accredit an M.Div that could be done totally orally is beyond me,” Brokenleg says. “Ian just had the ability to get the politics on his side … She did everything orally. But she was able to do that because of the work that Ian did to see that the M.Div was accredited, but that it acknowledged Indigenous ways of thinking and understanding.”
MacKenzie also helped found the ecumenical organization Project North, a precursor of ecumenical social justice agency KAIROS Canada. In his retirement, he was an active member of the Blueberry Commons Farm Cooperative, a community living project in Powell River to develop cohousing on a certified organic farm; Climate Action Powell River; and Friends of Louis Riel, a group that seeks reconciliation and the exoneration of the 19th century Métis leader.
He is survived by his wife Paula, six adult children and seven grandchildren. A memorial service was scheduled to take place at St. David and St. Paul Anglican Church in Powell River on May 13.
