Stretching Towards Hope: Reflections on Decolonization

In Canada, discussions about decolonization are almost exclusively applied to the experience of

Indigenous peoples and focused on processes of undoing internalized narratives of white settler

domination and Indigenous reclaiming of languages, cultures, and lands. Decolonization

requires us to contemplate our historical relationships with global Indigenous lands claimed, re-

named, and repurposed by colonizers– and fought for by the colonized– worldwide since

1415. In this service, non-Indigenous members of our congregation who are of African and

Chinese descent will use music, storytelling, and familial histories to reflect on hope as a

product of the history and future of decolonization.