Medicine Wheel Healing: How It Starts

The story of how one Canadian Aboriginal elder found her way to personal healing and how she passes her knowledge on to others.

Materials

Videos:

Program One: "Medicine Wheel Healing: How It Starts"

Documents:

“Directions in Aboriginal Ministry”
Building Bridges Project/ Newman College, Edmonton Alberta

“The Story of Canadian Aboriginal Spirituality”
Chapter 3, World Religions: A Canadian Catholic Perspective
By Sr. Eva Solomon, CSJ
Novalis Publishing Inc. and Nelson Education Ltd. 2011

"Medicine Wheel: A Method of Reading the Bible"
By +Sylvain Lavoie, OMI
Publisher TBA

“Drumming from Within: Tales of Hope and Faith from Canada's North.”
By +Sylvain Lavoie, OMI
Novalis Publishing Inc. 2009

"Faith Moments: Saint Kateri Tekakwitha"
By Anne Neuberger. Novalis 2009

Websites:

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) Click Here

Canadian Bishops on Saint Kateri Click Here

Canadian Bishops on Canadian Indigenous Peoples Click Here

Salt and Light TV video on Saint Kateri Click Here

Jesuits of English Canada on Saint Kateri Click Here

Catholic Missions in Canada Click Here

Saint Kateri Resources
compiled by
Religious Education + Family Life
Renfrew County Catholic School Board Click Here

 

Study Guide

Goal

The goal of Program One is to introduce students to the medicine wheel as a Canadian Catholic Aboriginal approach to healing. Also to introduce students to the history of Canadian Aboriginal Peoples as it relates to healing; why healing is so important today.

Steps

1. Show the internet TV video - Program One: "Medicine Wheel Healing; How It Starts"

2. Ask students to form small groups to describe the following impressions from the video:

  • Who is Rosella Kinoshameg and what do we find out about her in this video?
  • What is the purpose of the Building Bridges Project and who supports it?
  • What is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and who is behind it?
  • What did you know after viewing the video that you didn’t know before?
  • Give three reasons why Canadian Catholics should support the work of the Building Bridges Project.

3. Option for Take-Home Assignment

  • Via the Internet find more facts about the history of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada and its current work. Apologies to Aboriginal People of Canada.
  • Name 10 Canadian dioceses where Catholic Aboriginal peoples live
  • Provide 5 important facts about the social conditions for the Catholic Aboriginal populations which live there.
  • Study the documents of the Canadian Catholic Aboriginal Council of the CCCB and prepare a presentation on the council’s importance and/or the importance of the documents they have prepared to the Canadian Catholic Church in general.
  • In groups, make presentations to the class about any or all of the above. Include suggestions on how students could become more involved.