Conference 2023

decolonizing our churches, reweaving our lives

experience, reflection, transformation

June 20-22, 2023 - This gathering is built on our desire to have a conversation together about moving forward in a decolonizing mode towards truth, reconciliation, right relationships, justice, and healing.

What’s Happening?

We begin with ritual, a tipi teaching, and conversation led by local elders and knowledge keepers. Our interactive panel discussions with keynote panelists will be featured on the first and third days of the event. Panelists will speak to their experiences of working on decolonizing from their various perspectives: Indigenous, global, racialization, and allyship.

On June 21, attendees will be invited to participate in the vibrant learning-spaces of local community celebrations marking National Indigenous Peoples Day.

There will be opportunities to participate in workshops with leaders who are working to embody decolonizing at the grassroots. Using storytelling, lived experience, and reflection, we will work to help each other imagine another possible world.

What is meant by ‘decolonization’?

Through shared experience, we will unpack the complex concept of decolonization and find practical ways of bringing it to life in our churches and communities.

Conference Schedule

Day 1 — listening and learning — Tuesday, June 20

8:30 a.m.	Registration, coffee, and visiting (St. Thomas More College: 1437 College Drive)
9:00 a.m.	Opening Ceremony and Tipi Teachings with Elders and Knowledge Keepers
12:15 p.m.	Lunch (included in conference fee)
2:00 p.m.	Dreaming our Shared Future with panelists: Dr. Michel Andraos, Dean, Faculty of Theology, St. Paul University, Ottawa- Saint Paul University (ustpaul.ca) Dr. Christine Jamieson, Associate Professor, Theological Studies, Concordia University, Montréal- Faculty - Concordia University Dr. Néstor Medina, Associate Professor of Religious Ethics and Culture, Emmanuel College, Toronto School of Theology-Medina, Néstor \| Toronto School of Theology (tst.edu) Rev. Dr. Ali Tote, Assistant to the Bishop, Saskatchewan Synod ELCIC
3:45 p.m.	Workshops on decolonizing in action Rev.Michele Rowe and Rev. Deb Anderson Pratt Dr. Elaine Enns, author of Healing Haunted Histories Darlene Rose Okemaysim-Sicotte, Iskwekuk Ewichitochik (Women Walking Together) - Darlene Okemaysim-Sicotte — Wicihitowin Indigenous Engagement Conference
5:30 p.m.	Closing Ritual
6:00 p.m.	Supper (included in conference fee)
7:00 p.m.	Story-telling evening with Cort Dogniez (St. Andrew’s College: 1121 College Drive)

Day 2 — experiencing and immersing — Wednesday, June 21 — National Indigenous Peoples Day

9:00 a.m.	decolonizing in action — film and discussion sessions (St. Andrew’s College: 1121 College Drive)
Remainder:	Joining in with community events to mark National Indigenous Peoples Day

Day 3 — conversing and bearing witness — Thursday, June 22

8:30 a.m.	Coffee and visiting (St. Thomas More College: 1437 College Drive)
9:00 a.m.	Opening Ritual
9:30 a.m.	Discussion circles to process the previous day’s experiences
11:15 a.m.	Panel conversation with Dr. Andraos, Dr. Jamieson, Dr. Medina, and Rev. Tote
12:30 p.m.	Lunch (included in conference fee)
1:30 p.m.	Workshops on decolonizing in action Amanda Dodge and Julie Graham, KAIROS Prairies North Decolonizing Working Group Erica Violet Lee, poet, essayist, political theorist, and urban nêhiyaw scholar from inner-city Saskatoon - erica-violet-lee-biography.pdf (wordpress.com) Lynn Caldwell, Darlene Rose Okemaysim-Sicotte, Don Schweitzer, contributors to Honouring the Declaration
3:15 p.m.	Closing panel with Dr. Andraos, Dr. Jamieson, and Dr. Medina
5:15 p.m.	Closing Ritual
6:00 p.m.	Departure

Our Panelists

Dr. Michel Andraos

Michel, a native of Lebanon, is the dean of the Faculty of Theology and coordinator of the Centre on the Churches, Truth, and Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. His main areas of research include intercultural theology, theologies of inter-religious dialogue, and religion and culture.

Dr. Christine Jamieson

Christine is a member of the Boothroyd First Nation in British Columbia. She is a professor at Concordia University in Montreal, where she teaches courses in Indigenous spirituality, Christian ethics, bioethics, and Lonergan studies. She earned an Indigenous Educators’ Certificate in Indigegogy from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2018.

Dr. Néstor Medina

Néstor is a Guatemalan-Canadian scholar, widely published author, and Associate professor of Religious Ethics and Culture at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto. He engages ethics from contextual, liberationist, intercultural, and post/decolonial perspectives and is especially interested in the ethical implications of interethnic and intercultural relations particularly in connection with Indigenous communities in Canada and Latin America.

Rev. Dr. Ali Tote

Ali is the Assistant to the Bishop of the Saskatchewan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Ali who holds a PhD in epidemiology, works on Indigenous data sovereignty and is the leading author of a recent report on self-harm and suicide in First Nation communities in Saskatchewan that used a decolonization framework.

Conference Leaders

Check out the photos and biographies of the other people leading our conference!

Let’s Go!

Community Events

Activities around the city to mark National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21.

Let’s Go!

Please Note: there are two fee categories:
General Admission ($200, plus processing fee) and Student / Underwaged ($75, plus processing fee)

For further information:
Please email Colleen Walker, our Event Coordinator at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Download the Conference Poster (pdf)

Sponsored by
The College of Emmanuel & St. Chad,
Lutheran Theological Seminary Saskatoon,
St. Andrew’s College,
and St. Thomas More College

Thank you,

To our community, church, and corporate sponsors!

Visit Sponsor Page

Chapel, St. Thomas More College