Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller says doing nothing would be the worst thing after Pope Francis issued an apology for residential schools during his historic trip to Canada.
Posted at 2:24 p.m.
Updated at 6:50 p.m.
Miller said on Wednesday there was renewed interest in acknowledging what happened at residential schools was genocide after the Pope used the term last week in front of reporters after his visit to Alberta. , Quebec and Nunavut.
Mr. Miller added that there must be the unanimous consent of members of the House of Commons for the Canadian government to adopt this language when describing institutions.
“The worst thing you can have after such a historic apology…is that nothing happens next,” Miller said of the Cree Nation of Peepeekisis in southeast Saskatchewan.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he continues to accept the conclusion of the 2019 Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls that “what happened amounts to genocide.”
Governments struggle to influence culture change, according to Miller, who added that there is a desire throughout society for people to learn about the history of residential schools.
“I’m hopeful with the Pope’s visit that it will turn the minds of people who don’t think about these issues every day,” he said.
Pope Francis said Wednesday that he felt the pain of Indigenous peoples during his trip to Canada, but also left with a sense of hope.
During a six-day trip last week, the head of the Roman Catholic Church met with Indigenous leaders and survivors of federal residential schools, during stops in Alberta, Quebec and Nunavut. He returned to this penitential trip on Wednesday, during his weekly “general audience” at the Vatican.
PHOTO REMO CASILLI, REUTERS
Pope Francis during his weekly “general audience” at the Vatican
“During these meetings — especially the last one — I was able to feel all the pain of these people, what they had lost,” the pope said. Old people who had (lost) their children and did not know what had become of them, because of this policy of assimilation. »
“It was a very painful moment, but one that we have to face. We have to face our mistakes, our sins,” he said.
Throughout his trip to Canada, the Pope repeatedly apologized for the role of some Church members in residential schools for Aboriginal people. He also asked forgiveness for the cultural destruction and forced assimilation of these children.
On the plane taking him back to Rome, Pope Francis even declared that the aggressions to which the Aboriginal peoples had been subjected constituted “genocide”.
An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools in Canada, where neglect and physical and sexual abuse were rampant. More than 60% of these establishments were administered by Catholic religious congregations.
During his general audience on Wednesday in the Paul VI auditorium, the pope stressed that there had nevertheless been many moments of joy throughout his journey, and he thanked the Canadians for their warm welcome. and their great hospitality. But the overall thrust and tone of the trip, he said, was one of reflection, repentance and reconciliation.
François said that the courage demonstrated by the Aboriginal peoples could serve as an example to all peoples – that it was better for them, he said, “not to close themselves”, but rather “to offer their indispensable contribution to a more fraternal humanity, which knows how to love creation and the creator, in harmony with creation”.
However, some indigenous leaders say they are disappointed with the pilgrimage and the pope’s apology, saying it has failed on many fronts.
National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald, underlined that the pope had refrained from denouncing the role of the Catholic Church as an institution in the creation of systems that have caused physical and spiritual suffering. to indigenous peoples. She said the apology was “incomplete”.
PHOTO DARRYL DYCK, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald on July 5
“The Vatican’s failure to adequately address these issues in the pope’s speech is a real indication that the Vatican is not listening to the concerns of First Nations,” said Ms.me Archibald in a recent press release. For me, this is the image to remember from this whole visit. »
She added that Pope Francis had also failed to respond to calls to revoke the Doctrine of Discovery, papal bulls used to justify colonization, as well as return diocesan lands and sacred objects to indigenous communities.