When anonymous children’s graves turn up near a former Catholic boarding school in Canada, it throws a spotlight on the church’s dark past. For almost 100 years, their representatives had humiliated and abused indigenous people. Premier Trudeau demands an apology from the Pope. But he doesn’t just see the church as one of the responsibilities.
During his visit to Canada, Pope Francis asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for forgiveness for the evils committed by Christians against indigenous peoples. In Québec, the head of the Catholic Church spoke of the system of boarding schools, which harmed many indigenous families and endangered their language, culture and worldview. “For this I express my shame and pain and, together with the bishops of this country, I repeat my plea for forgiveness.” At the same time, Francis rejected the Church’s sole guilt. “Some local Catholic institutions were involved in this deplorable system promoted by the government agencies of the time (…),” said the 85-year-old. His message: The Canadian state was also responsible.
From the 1880s, the facilities housed indigenous children who had been snatched from their families in order to force them to adapt to Western culture in the schools. There, for example, they were not allowed to speak their language and were not allowed to wear indigenous clothing. A government program, supported by the church, mandated that Aboriginal children be assimilated into mainstream Canadian society.
The institutes were rife with hunger and disease, and the staff violently abused the children and sexually abused them. It is estimated that up to 6,000 children never returned home and perished in this ruthless system. Beginning in the late 1960s, the state withdrew control of the boarding schools from the Church. The last closed in 1996.
Meeting with the indigenous people and asking for forgiveness are at the heart of Francis’ journey. The church part of the visit follows today, Thursday, with a mass in the Basilica of Saint Anne de Beaupré and a meeting with church representatives. Québec and the province of the same name in the French-speaking part of the country are mostly Catholic. Across Canada, 44 percent of the population is baptized Catholic, according to Vatican figures, but polls show fewer people feel they belong to the Catholic Church.
Francis declared in the Québec Citadel, a fortress once built by the British, that it is right to admit our guilt and to work to promote the rights of indigenous people and processes of healing and reconciliation between them and the non-indigenous peoples of the area second largest country in the world. His desire is to renew the relationship between the Church and indigenous peoples.
Trudeau, speaking in French and English, spoke of how indigenous children in boarding schools had been alone and isolated. Pope Francis this week acknowledged the abuse in boarding schools that led to cultural destruction, death and trauma among indigenous people that persist today. “It is our responsibility to see our differences not as an obstacle, but as an opportunity to learn and understand each other better, and to take action,” said the devout Catholic.
Also present at the citadel was Mary Simon, the governor and thus representative of the British monarchy in Canada – a rather representative office. Simon belongs to the Inuk and is the first indigenous person to hold this position. The Pope’s visit is an important step towards reconciliation, she said in her speech. Francis complied with a request from Trudeau with his apology. The 50-year-old asked about a year ago that the Argentine should come to Canada after more than 200 anonymous children’s graves were found near a boarding school once run by the Catholic Church.
The pope had already asked for forgiveness when representatives of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit visited him in the Vatican at the end of March. On Monday he drove to Maskwacis in western Canada to seek forgiveness from the indigenous people. For some indigenous people the gesture is not enough, others see it as a first step on the path to reconciliation. Many had waited for years for a pope to ask forgiveness for their suffering in the boarding schools. After the meeting in the citadel, the pontiff drove through Québec in his papa-mobile – past thousands of people who cheered him on the side of the road.