Lyrics
Two hundred and fifteen
Two hundred and fifteen
Indigenous children who can't come home
Two hundred and fifteen
How many more missing?
Indigenous children who won't come home
Why did it take so long?
Revealing this ancient wrong
When mothers cried through countless nights alone
The church and the government
Complicit in violence
How could such savagery stay unconfessed?
If there's a God in heaven, you've been used again
To subjugate, assimilate, eradicate the other
We're Christian and Canadian yet now ashamed of both
We weep with the indigenous and stand with all who mourn
Why did it take so long?
Revealing this ancient wrong
The elders spoke but we refused to hear
The church and the government
Complicit in violence
How could something so evil happen here?
Two hundred and fifteen
Two hundred and fifteen
Indigenous children stolen
Video
Meaning & Inspiration
This lament names grief over Indigenous children who did not return home and confronts the institutions implicated in their suffering. Repetition gives the number in the title the weight of a public memorial, while the questions refuse to treat violence, silence, and delayed acknowledgment as distant abstractions. The lyric also rejects the misuse of God and Christian identity as tools of subjugation, making confession and mourning central to its spiritual language.
The declaration of standing with those who mourn closely echoes Romans 12:15, which calls for shared grief. The concern for children whose voices and lives were disregarded also aligns with Proverbs 31:8-9 and its command to speak for those unable to secure justice for themselves. Rather than offering a quick resolution, the song remains with sorrow, shame, and accountability. Its Christian dimension lies in lament, truth telling, solidarity with sufferers, and the demand that evil should no longer remain hidden or unconfessed.
Related Scripture
- Romans 12:15 Paul calls believers to mourn with those who mourn.
- Proverbs 31:8-9 The passage commands speaking up for those denied a voice and defending their rights.
- 1 Corinthians 12:26 Paul teaches that when one part suffers, every part suffers with it.