Indigenous leaders demand an apology from the Pope for abuse in Canadian schools
TORONTO — When a delegation from the Assembly of First Nations traveled to the Vatican in 2009 to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, the pontiff told them in a private meeting of his “personal anguish” over the abuse he had suffered. by Aboriginal children in church-run residential schools. schools they were forced to attend in Canada.
What was then called an expression of regret is no longer considered enough after the discovery last year in British Columbia of about 200 graves of unmarked and previously undocumented children in what was the largest residential school in Canada.
Indigenous leaders expect nothing less than a public apology from Pope Francis — with government officials all the way to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lending their support — for the church’s role in residential school abuses. The pontiff is due to meet First Nations, Métis and Inuit survivors at the Vatican this week ahead of a visit to Canada that could take place later this year.
“We’re trying to give a voice to the voiceless by going there,” said Gary Gagnon, who will represent Métis people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry on the delegation. Originally scheduled for December, the visit was postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic.
More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools from the 19th century until the 1970s in an effort to isolate them from the influence of their homes and cultures and to Christianize them and assimilate them into mainstream society, which previous governments considered superior.
The government has admitted physical and sexual abuse is rampant, with students beaten for speaking their native language. This legacy of abuse and isolation has been cited by Indigenous leaders as a root cause of the epidemic rates of alcohol and drug addiction on reservations.
Nearly three quarters of the 130 boarding schools were run by Catholic missionary congregations.
Last May, the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Nation announced the discovery of graves near Kamloops, British Columbia, found using ground-penetrating radar. The sites have yet to be excavated, but they have renewed a national reckoning as Indigenous groups across the country search for graves at other boarding schools.
“What really got things going was Kamloops,” said Phil Fontaine, who was national chief of the Assembly of First Nations in 2009. “It got so many people’s attention.”
Fontaine, 77, said he and his classmates suffered physical and sexual abuse as a child at Fort Alexander Indian Residential School in Manitoba, where he was forbidden to see his family except for two hours on Sundays , even if they lived nearby.
“Eventually, Canadians say, ‘Oh, that’s right. That’s what happened in residential schools,'” he added. “And I think that put a lot of pressure on the Catholic Church and the Vatican. Don’t forget that the Prime Minister himself asked Francis to apologize.”
A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission holds records of at least 51 children who died at the Kamloops school between 1915 and 1963.
Nationally, the commission identified about 3,200 confirmed deaths at residential schools in poor conditions, some due to tuberculosis, but noted that the cause of death was not recorded for nearly half of them. ‘between them.








Comments are closed.