Bannock and Reconciliation

A neighborhood group in Ontario found a tasty way to mark National Indigenous Peoples Day, a national holiday in Canada celebrated each year on June 21.

Mark Broadus, pastor of Fellowship Christian Reformed Church in Etobicoke, Ont., leads a neighborhood group that meets every Friday to walk together and share fellowship. Since National Indigenous Peoples Day fell on a Friday this year, he wanted to celebrate the day with the neighborhood group. 

The diverse group, said Broadus, had a widely varied understanding of the holiday. “On June 21 we exchanged our regular snacks for two large fresh loaves of bannock . . . and asked people to bring spreads to share. This gave us an opportunity to highlight the importance of the holiday for everyone,” he said. Bannock is a type of bread that is traditional in many Indigenous communities.

The recipe for the bannock came from the Indigenous Ministries team of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, offered along with four other recipes as a thank-you for donations made this summer. In an email invitation to ministry supporters, Indigenous Ministries leader Adrian Jacobs suggested, “Just as laughter nourishes the soul, good food can uplift and energize us on life’s journeys.”

Some of the recipes offered have been passed through generations, said Jacobs, while others are newer and are enjoyed at gatherings at one of the CRC’s urban Indigenous ministry centers. He said he hoped that the recipes would help  people to build bridges connecting them with Indigenous culture and resilience through the enjoyment and sharing of food.

Broadus carried that hope to the Etobicoke neighborhood group on June 21. The group has about 30 active members, and only Broadus and one other member, Dan Kraan, are members of Fellowship CRC. Broadus started the group, he said, as a way to get to know neighbors in the local community, and for the neighbors to get to know each other.

“They continue to come because they have formed solid friendships in the group,” he said. “Some group members are active members of other churches; other group members claim no faith or religious affiliation. And we still get newcomers, who are of course embraced into the group.”

The goals of the group, said Broadus, are to promote friendship and a regular healthy life cadence. As friends, they walk, eat, and talk together each week. Broadus is able to promote Christian values such as hospitality, he said, and sometimes to provide pastoral support as individual needs arise.

For most of the weekly gatherings, individual members of the group volunteer to bring a snack of something they’ve made or bought to share with the group. So for Indigenous People’s Day on June 21, Kraan prepared two large loaves of bannock and served them warm. Other members of the group brought spreads or toppings such as maple syrup, honey, jam, jelly, hummus, and cream cheese. 

“I had often thought of attempting to make bannock,” said Kraan. “This was a great opportunity to try something new, following a traditional recipe. We enjoyed two baked versions of the provided recipe. Both were well received and eagerly devoured. It was a wonderful experience – and one that I feel is well worth repeating!”

To remind group members of the reason for the special snack, Broadus printed the recipe and let everyone know why the day was special. Some group members wore Every Child Matters shirts to mark the day as well.

The group also shares meals about four times per year, said Broadus, so he said that when the weather gets colder, he might make the chili recipe from the Indigenous Ministries recipe set and send everyone home with that recipe then too.