Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous People

(Vatican Radio) On Wednesday 12^th December, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Catholic Church in Canada marks the Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous People.

The Canadian bishops issued a message for the day of prayer, encouraging Catholics to look to St. Kateri Tekakwitha, a young Mohawk woman, canonized this past October, in order to grow in the beatitudes.

They also reminded the faithful to pray for St. Kateri’s intercession for renewal of faith in the First Nations and in of all North America.

Indigenous peoples, not only continue to struggle to keep their very identity from disappearing in an increasingly globalised world, not only are they calling for greater control over their territories and resources and to be treated as equals in decisions that affect their lands, their animals and their very culture, they are the ones in the immediate frontline of vulnerability of climate change.

This very fact – says anthropologist Pablo Eyzaguirre – puts them in a unique position, one from which we have much to learn.

Eyzaguirre, a senior anthropologist who works at the international agricultural research centre Bioversity International, believes that indigenous peoples must be integrated into discussions of climate change and policy formation for the good of us all.

Speaking to Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni, Eyzaguirre pointed out that “The people living at the margins, the people living around the polar regions for example, had been noticing climate change for a number of years – the decrease of the ice, new patterns of animal migration, the thawing that was taking place earlier and earlier every year – but nobody was listening to these people even though they would have been providing very detailed information”.

Listen to the interview…

Eyzaguirre explains that the exchange of information together with a profound respect for biodiversity yields precious indications in the fight against hunger and poverty.

In terms of the unique knowledge indigenous people possess, Eyzaguirre says it is important for us not to just think about the knowledge that we can take away, but to keep in mind the fact that this knowledge was developed by a culture in a particular environment. So – he explains - in order for this knowledge to continue to grow and be useful, we have to support those ways of life.