Canada: It is a crucial step in the Catholic Church's efforts to make peace with Native communities and aid them in recovering from generations of trauma that Pope Francis' tumultuous trip to Canada to apologise to indigenous peoples for abuses committed by missionaries at residential schools was inaugurated on Sunday.
Francis took a flight from Rome to Edmonton, Alberta, where he was met by Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, and Mary May Simon, an Inuk and the nation's first Indigenous governor general. Because Francis had no official engagements on Sunday, he could rest up for his meeting with survivors on Monday near the location of a former residential school in Maskwacis, where he is anticipated to make an apology.
Francis explained to reporters that this was a "penitential journey" while on board the papal aircraft and he urged prayers in particular for grandparents and the elderly. However, indigenous groups are pushing for more than just words as they fight for access to church archives to find out what happened to kids who never came home from school. Additionally, they demand monetary compensation, justice for the perpetrators, and the return of indigenous artefacts housed in the Vatican Museums.
Grand Chief George Arcand Jr. of the Confederacy of Treaty Six said, "This apology validates our experiences and creates an opportunity for the church to repair relationships with Indigenous peoples across the world." But he emphasised that there was still much work to be done. It marks a start.
Francis met with representatives from the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit during meetings at the Vatican in the spring. His week-long trip will take him to Edmonton, Quebec City, and finally Iqaluit, Nunavut, in the far north. A historic apology for the "deplorable" abuses carried out in residential schools by some Catholic missionaries came out of those meetings on April 1.
The government of Canada has acknowledged the prevalence of physical and sexual abuse in the publicly-funded Christian institutions that existed from the 19th century to the 1970s. In an effort to separate them from the influence of their homes, Native languages, and cultures and assimilate them into Canada's Christian society, about 150,000 indigenous children were taken from their families and made to attend.
In 2008, Stephen Harper, who was prime minister at the time, officially apologised for the residential schools. Canada made reparations totaling billions of dollars in transfers to Indigenous communities as part of a lawsuit settlement involving the government, churches, and about 90,000 remaining students. The Catholic Church of Canada reports that over C$50 million (US$38.7 million) in cash and in-kind contributions have been made by its dioceses and religious orders, and it expects to add another C$30 million over the following five years.
A papal apology was requested by Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015, but the Vatican didn't act upon the request until the 2021 discovery of what may be the remains of 200 children at the former Kamloops residential school in British Columbia.
According to Raymond Frogner, head archivist at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, "I honestly believe that if it wasn't for the discovery... and all the spotlight that was placed on the Oblates or the Catholic Church as well, I don't think any of this would have happened."
Frogner just got back from Rome where he spent five days at the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate headquarters, which ran 48 of the 139 residential schools that were run by Christians, the most of any Catholic order. The Oblates finally provided "complete transparency and accountability" after the graves were found, and they also let him into their headquarters to look up the names of alleged sex abusers from a single school in the province of Saskatchewan in western Canada, he claimed.
Both events are in rural areas, and shuttle transportation is being set up from various park-and-ride lots. Numerous survivors are now elderly and frail, and they may require services such as transport in an accessible vehicle, diabetic-friendly snacks, and others. The Reverend Cristino Bouvette, who is partially of Indigenous heritage and is the national liturgical coordinator for the papal visit, expressed his hope that the visit would be therapeutic for those who "have borne a wound, a cross that they have suffered with, in some cases for generations." The papal liturgical events will have strong Indigenous representation, according to Bouvette, a priest in the Diocese of Calgary. This includes prominent roles for Indigenous clergy and the use of Native languages, music, and motifs on liturgical vestments.
Bouvette claimed that he is carrying out this work in memory of his "kokum," or grandmother in Cree, who spent 12 years in an Edmonton residential school. She "probably could not have imagined that her grandson would be involved in this work those many years later."
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