A delegation of one hundred Canadian Aboriginals arrives this Sunday at the Vatican. Representatives of First Nations, Métis and Inuit will meet with Pope Francis. They demand the repudiation of Renaissance papal bulls that supported colonization.
Updated at 0:04
“We have a lot of expectations of the Pope,” explains Mandy Gull-Masty, Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec, who is from Waswanipi and is the only Quebecer in the Aboriginal delegation. “I believe the Pope will apologize and really work on what happened in residential schools. I think he’s going to make his apologies on his trip to Canada later this year for a lot of people to hear. We’re going to prepare him for what he’s going to have as a reaction with his apologies. »
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Mandy Gull-Masty, Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec
Assembly of First Nations (AFN), Métis National Council (MNC) and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) delegations, made up of political representatives and former students of residential schools, will meet with the Pope separately Monday and Thursday. On Friday, Pope Francis will meet the three delegations together, with around 75 relatives of former residents also making the trip.
“It’s a series of exceptional encounters,” explains Raymond Poisson, Bishop of Saint-Jérôme and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB).
Each delegation will have one hour with [le pape] Francois. Usually, meetings with Heads of State are much shorter. [Le pape] François is very sensitive to the poorest, to those who are in difficulty.
Raymond Poisson, Bishop of Saint-Jérôme and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
Mgr Poisson was in Rome this week to prepare for the meetings. “We have been preparing for the visit for three years,” said the prelate. We started by listening to the survivors, then we went up to the indigenous leadership to determine the best way. »
papal bulls
The AFN has publicly called for the formal repudiation of Papal Bulls, legal documents which, in the early colonies in the Americas, granted various European powers the right to take possession of Indigenous lands and convert them to Christianity. “We call this the doctrine of discovery,” explains Philippe Vaillancourt, founder of the religious information site Présence. “It has already been condemned in various ways by the pope and the CCCB, but the bulls as such were not mentioned. »
Mme Gull-Masty was struck by the pope’s reaction to the discovery of unmarked graves near three former boarding schools last summer. “In his statement, we could see that he was really in shock. I think that’s when it changed for everyone. I see the evolution in the Catholic Church since the 1980s. It is more welcoming. She is working on her story. The Pope wants to open the Church to the world, he is the first to approach his role in this way. »
The evolution has been slow. Mgr Poisson recalls that John Paul II, during his trip to Canada in 1984, was unable to go to the Far North as planned to meet with Aboriginal people, because of the weather. “In 1987, he changed the itinerary of a visit to the United States to stop in the Far North,” said the Quebec bishop.
PHOTO FROM CECC WEBSITE
John Paul II during his trip to the Northwest Territories in 1987
Mitchell Case, an Ontario historian who is part of the Métis political delegation, also believes that the transition in the position of the Church began with John Paul II. “He was very supportive of Métis rights,” says Case. This was long before the truth about the horrors of residential schools was known. François is even more progressive, he really wants to heal the wounds. I understand, however, that he has a great ship to maneuver, the Roman curia. It takes a long time to change course. »
Personal experience
Although they did not attend residential schools, Mr. Case and Ms.me Gull-Masty had personal experience of this. “My great-great-grandmother was there,” Mr. Case said. I didn’t know her, but we talked a lot about her in the family.
What was striking was that she never talked about the years she spent at boarding school, even when asked questions. To me, that means it was too painful.
Mitchell Case, Ontario historian who is part of the Métis political delegation, on his great-great-grandmother
Mme Gull-Masty was marked by the experiences of her mother and grandmother. “My grandmother went to three boarding schools, and my mother to La Tuque,” she says. My mother never forgot. It’s hard for a person to be raised by a school teacher rather than someone who loves them and shows them. It destroys a person. She wasn’t even in the same boarding school as her siblings. In Chisasibi, there was a boarding school, but the children could not go home, even if they could see the house from their room. I will never understand the pain of a mother who goes to bed at night without her child knowing that he is sleeping nearby. »
Inuit representative intends to address difficult issues
The head of the national organization that represents Inuit in Canada says his meeting next week with Pope Francis at the Vatican will not be a cause for celebration. Natan Obed, from the organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), intends to raise a specific point during this meeting: that justice be done for the alleged victims of a Roman Catholic priest accused of crimes against children. Mr. Obed wants the Church to hold accountable an Oblate priest, Johannes Rivoire, who continues to live in freedom despite multiple allegations of sexual assault linked to his stay in Nunavut. The latter lived in Canada from the early 1960s until 1993, the year of his return to France. A warrant was issued for the priest’s arrest in 1998. More than two decades later, however, the charges have been stayed. The Public Prosecution Service of Canada then claimed that it was partly because of France’s reluctance to extradite him. Inuit leaders and politicians have continued to demand that the priest, who is now 90, be brought to justice.
The Canadian Press
Learn more
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- 150,000
- Number of children who attended Indian Residential Schools
- 3200
- Number of children who officially died at an Indigenous boarding school, a figure that could be 5 to 10 times higher in reality, according to historians
Sources: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and The Canadian Encyclopedia