Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, expressed to Pope Francis during their meeting in Quebec the need for the Vatican “to take concrete measures” for their reconciliation with the original peoples, such as the return of the objects that the Vatican possesses or the opening of the files on the residential schools in which the indigenous children suffered all kinds of abuses, reported this Tuesday in a statement.
(Read: Pope asks ‘never oppress the conscience of others’ at Mass in Canada)
Trudeu met this Wednesday with the Pope and the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, at the Citadel of Quebec, where Francis arrived on his fourth day of travel to Canadaand at this meeting he thanked him for “having committed himself to the indigenous peoples on their ancestral lands.”
Grateful that you have recognized the truths about the residential school system and its painful legacy for First Nations, Inuit and Métis people in Canada
The statement explained that the meeting discussed “the importance of the Roman Catholic Church continuing to engage meaningfully with First Nations, Inuit and Métis to advance healing and reconciliation.”
And they also spoke of the need for the “Church to adopt concrete measures to repatriate indigenous objects (some of them preserved in the Vatican Museums), facilitate access to documents from internees, address the Doctrine of Discovery and guarantee justice for the survivors,” reads the note.
They also addressed “the Rivoire case,” the statement added, referring to the priest Johannes Rivoire, under whom an arrest warrant issued in Canada weighs, for allegations of sexual assaults allegedly occurred some 47 years ago against Inuit children in the territory of Nunavut, where the Pope will travel tomorrow.
Rivoire currently lives in Lyon, France, and was never tried on those charges in Canada because he returned to France in the early 1990s. On the other hand, the prime minister underlined “the permanent commitment of the Government of Canada to chart a new and best way forward with indigenous peoples and with everyone”.
A group of indigenous people unfurled a banner during the pope’s mass at Saint Anne de Beaupré Church in Quebec asking him to distance himself from the so-called “Doctrine of Discovery,” the papal bulls used by settlers in America and Africa to ” in the name of God” justify the confiscation of land from native peoples.
The representatives of the original peoples – First Nations, Métis and Inuit – have expressed their satisfaction and emotion when the pope asked them last Monday at Maskwacis, in Edmonton, “humbly” forgiveness for the responsibilities of the Church in those boarding schools created for “assimilation processes” and in which nearly 150,000 indigenous children suffered all kinds of abuse, thousands of them died from mistreatment and illness.
But many of them agreed that the request for forgiveness was a starting point and not an end point in the process of reconciliation with the Church and that much remained to be done regarding the requests of the original peoples.
protests
The protest this Thursday by a group of indigenous people who displayed a banner during the pope’s mass in the Church of Saint Anne de Beaupré in Quebec, to ask him to distance himself from the so-called “Doctrine of discovery”, he staged the opinion of some of the representatives of the original peoples who wanted something more regarding the apologies Francis.
The representatives of the original peoples – First Nations, Métis and Inuit – expressed their satisfaction and their emotion when the pope asked them in Maskwacis, in Edmonton, “humbly” forgiveness for the responsibilities of the Church in those boarding schools created for the “processes of assimilation” and in which nearly 150,000 indigenous children suffered all kinds of abuse, thousands of them died from mistreatment and disease.
But many of them agreed that the request for forgiveness was a starting point and not an end point in the process of reconciliation with the Church and that much remained to be done regarding the requests of the original peoples.
However, some groups of these native peoples, scattered throughout the vast Canadian territory that the pope will not visit, have not been happy with his apologies and expected something more.
before mass, a group of indigenous people unfurled a banner asking the pope in French “to rescind the Doctrine”, in reference to the so-called “Doctrine of Discovery”, a series of papal bulls in the 14th century that blessed colonization and land appropriation.
It was in particular two papal bulls issued in 1455 and 1493 by Popes Nicholas V and Alexander VI that gave the blessing to land appropriation that they declared “terra nullius” (no man’s land) and that, according to the Permanent Forum of the United Nations for indigenous issues, “remain in force”.
The security inside the temple removed the banner without problems, but the small group of indigenous people hung it outside the sanctuary before the thousands of faithful who gathered to follow Francisco’s mass.
‘They expected more’
But the requests of the native peoples go further. Grand Chief Garrison Settee of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, in a statement following the pope’s apology, said “it was impressive to hear those words for all the people who needed to hear them” and believes “it was a sincere apology.”
We did not hear mention of sexual abuse in the apology. It was a bit surprising that nothing was heard of the Doctrine of Discovery either.
But he added that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had asked the pope to issue an apology boarding school victims, their families and communities for the Catholic Church’s role in “spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and sexual abuse of First Nations children in Catholic boarding schools.”
“Apologizing and acknowledging the damage caused is just one step of many that must be taken. There is much more work to be done,” he said.
Like many other indigenous peoples, they now hope that the Church will “return all the objects and documents to the first peoples (some in the Vatican Museums) and open the archives, since they contain answers that will reveal more truths.”
On the other hand, the Minister of Indigenous Relations of the Crown, Mark Miller, assured in an interview for “The Canadian Press” that the “gaps” in the pope’s apology cannot be ignored.
Although he assured that “it was an emotional moment” and “that the indigenous people will decide for themselves what they think,” he expressed concern that Francis “did not mention sexual abuse in his comments” and only mentioned the “evil committed by Christians, but not by the Catholic Church as an institution”.
I’m glad I lived long enough to witness his apology, but I want more because 50 years is too long to wait for an apology.
In an interview for Canada’s CBC channel, Evelyn Korkmaz, a First Nations survivor of the Fort Albany residential school and a founding member of the Church’s Lawyers for Victims of the Church in Canada, said the pope’s words caused “mixed emotions.” “·
“There was no mention in his apology of publishing desperately needed documents across Canada. These documents contain our history… they belong here in Canada, they belong to us,” he said.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from EFE and AFP
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