Warning: This story is about residential schools and the abuse that took place there.
A small herd of bison now runs on the lands of Wanuskewin Heritage Park outside Saskatoon, including four calves that were born last year as part of an indigenous community restoration project.
The park is a place where First Nations communities had lived for 6,000 years in concert with the bison before settlers hunted the creatures to near extinction.
It is also the place where Chief Francis Thomas of the Kinistin Saulteaux Nation invited Pope Francis to visit in 2017 and issue a long-awaited apology for the role of the Catholic Church in Canadian residential schools.
That invitation went unanswered, but Thomas now says it is not too late for the Pope to come and witness the revival of some of the communities the church has damaged.
“We brought bison to the park. It is a symbol of First Nations resilience and endurance, ”he said. “You can see the similarities between the bison and us.”
The news that Pope Francis has said he is willing to come to Canada as part of a “pastoral reconciliation process” was described Wednesday as a positive development for indigenous leaders who have long called on him to take responsibility for the role of the church in abuses of the residential school system.
Nearly three-quarters of Canada’s 130 residential schools were run by Roman Catholic missionary congregations, with an estimated 150,000 indigenous children forced to attend. Others were led by the Presbyterian, Anglican and United Church of Canada, which today is the largest Protestant denomination in the country. The institutions saw indigenous children systematically removed from their homes with the aim of assimilating them into European colonial culture, and many physical, mental and sexual abuses were documented.
The Canadian government, the Presbyterian, Anglican, and United Churches have apologized for the politics and abuses, as have Canada’s Catholic bishops. His Holiness Pope Francis would be one of the last major leaders of an organization instrumental in the abusive system to apologize. No date has been set for a visit, nor has there been an explicit promise of an apology.
However, those who have been waiting for that moment have ideas about how the Pope could make a trip meaningful.
Thomas had ideas for the Pontiff, including a commitment to pay the full amounts that the Catholic Church was required to pay to residential school survivors in a 2005 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement.
He also said that it would be important for Francis to witness some of the suffering faced by indigenous peoples whose loved ones died in Indian residential schools.
“One suggestion would be to have several places that I could visit and honor the children who were buried in those schools,” Thomas said.
“Maybe it’s a tour of Canada.”
Thomas’ initial involvement in the work to invite the Pope to Canada began after his own community’s truth and reconciliation event, when it became clear to Thomas that there was a tremendous faceless legacy surrounding residential schools, and that an apology from the Pope could help validate survivors of residential schools. ‘stories and trauma.
He worked with Archbishop Don Bolen of the Archdiocese of Regina by invitation in 2017.
Bolen said Wednesday that he was happy to “walk in solidarity” with indigenous communities to “pursue justice” when the pope was invited to Canada nearly five years ago. He called the news of the pope’s possible visit a “wonderful step” to improve the relationship between the church and indigenous peoples.
“We are really looking for a new way, a non-colonial way of walking with the indigenous people through this land,” he said.
Although the Vatican has not directly said that an apology is on the agenda for the Pope’s visit to Canada, the leaders of the Indigenous and Canadian governments hope that the apology they deem expired will take place in traditional Indigenous territories.
Cowessess First Nation chief Cadmus Delorme, one of the chiefs who last summer announced the finds of hundreds of unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school, said a papal visit, and an apology, would be a step towards reconciliation.
“An apology is the beginning,” Delorme said. “An apology is required, and rebuilding a relationship would come after the apology.”
The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald, echoed the call for a “long overdue” apology. In a post on social media, he added that there should also be criminal charges and reparations.
“I call on the church to make a series of repairs while they are here and in the future. These immediate actions include the return of diocesan land holdings and investment and participation in long-term support and healing programs for our people, ”he said in a statement.
“I also ask the Holy Father to renounce and formally revoke the Doctrine of Discovery of 1493 and replace it with a new Papal Bull that decrees that indigenous peoples and cultures are valuable, worthy and must be treated with dignity and respect.”
The head of the Anishinabek Grand Council, Reg Niganobe, said he had heard that the Vatican had invited members of indigenous communities to meet at the Vatican, but the news that the pope would visit Canada came as a surprise.
He said he believes the gruesome discoveries of nameless graves near former residential school sites in Kamloops, BC, and other parts of Canada, have made it impossible for the Pope to continue to ignore the trauma inflicted on communities and the role and the responsibility of the church. .
“You can’t not show up and say something right now right now. It is very necessary for reconciliation and forgiveness of people. It would be good to hear that request for forgiveness, ”said Niganobe.
“Culturally for us, it is important to be heard and seen and to share your stories. So it’s important that the survivors (from the residential school) make that happen at that point in their visit just so they can move on and recover from it. “
For survivors, healing runs deeper than an apology, Niganobe said, because they were raised with the teachings of the church, often without knowing their own history and culture. Many indigenous people hold the Catholic faith, and a 2011 household survey reported that more indigenous households associate with the Catholic faith than any other religion or creed.
Although the Pope’s journey for reconciliation is a step in the right direction, Mark Hill, head-elect of Six Nations of the Grand River, said it must come with concrete action.
“It can’t just be more consistent words. Apologies are nothing without action. So my thing is, okay, you’re going to come here and what will it be? I hope it’s not just a photo opportunity, ”he said. “Come here and seriously and do something.”
The pope should address the issue of survivor compensation, return indigenous lands, and release all records related to residential schools despite the legal implications to do so, said Hill, whose community will begin its own search at the Mohawk Institute for the next week for missing. children in the properties.
Hill said he would like to see everyone, the church and Canadian governments, work together to improve the lives of indigenous people and help overcome all the challenges facing communities, all stemming from the residential school system.
“You need to hear first-hand exactly what the system was part of and what they did to people’s lives. These are traumatic events that ruined people’s lives, ”Hill said. “If you can (use) whatever authority you have to create and implement real change in these people’s lives … that’s the kind of conversation I’d like to sit down and have.”
Marc Miller, Minister for Crown-Indian Relations, said recognition of the church’s role in schools is important to indigenous peoples.
“This full recognition of the damage caused is something that the Holy Father himself had expected for a long time,” Miller said.
The 2015 final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada recounted the abuses suffered by indigenous children in residential schools run by federally funded churches. He asked for a papal apology to be delivered in Canada.
Vice President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop William McGrattan, said Pope Francis’ visit is part of a process of ongoing healing and reconciliation.
“I hope you continue to give (to indigenous peoples) the hope that the church continues to want to walk with them to recognize the fact that we have been part of the legacy of residential schools and that we want the Holy Father to understand and express: in his his own words, his regret and the pain the church has caused, ”he told the Star.
He said the Pope is aware of the problems and concerns raised by indigenous communities around compensation, the return of land and the disclosure of residential school records; everything will probably be raised by the delegation, estimated at 30 people, which will visit the Vatican in December.
“I hope that, with an honest and direct response, we can, with the Holy Father, try to respond to many of these requests and responses that are important for healing and reconciliation,” said McGrattan.
There has not been a papal visit to Canada since Pope John Paul II came for World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002. John Paul II was the first Pope to come to Canada in 1984. He also visited in 1987 to fulfill the promise to meet with Indigenous Peoples of the Northwest Territories.
– With files from Tonda MacCharles and The Canadian Press
The Indigenous Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to assist residential school survivors and their family members who experience trauma caused by memories of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.
Reference-www.thestar.com