Protesters demanded the revocation of the “doctrine of discovery” Thursday morning during a mass attended by Pope Francis at the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré basilica. Explanations on a concept that is more than 500 years old, but still current.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
Where does the Doctrine of Discovery come from?
The seeds of the Doctrine of Discovery date back to a series of papal bulls of the XVe century. The Vatican’s message to the colonizing states, according to Jean-François Roussel, professor at the Institute of Religious Studies at the University of Montreal, can be summed up as follows: “I give you the territories and everything on them, perpetual ownership, provided you do missionary work. »
From there, this concept “served as a legal and moral justification for the colonial dispossession of sovereign Indigenous Nations,” reads a 2018 Assembly of First Nations (AFN) statement.
The doctrine of discovery was further codified in an 1823 United States Supreme Court decision, Johnson v. M’Intosh. This decision influenced the Supreme Court of Canada, which cited it in the Guerin decision of 1984 and in the Sparrow decision of 1990, two decisions concerning Aboriginal rights.
These two judgments are themselves founding principles in Nation tsilhqot’in c. British Columbia 2014, in which the Supreme Court wrote that “upon the assertion of European sovereignty, the Crown acquired absolute or underlying title to all lands in the province”.
According to Professor Felix Hoehn of the University of Saskatchewan Law School, there is no doubt that the doctrine of discovery is an integral part of Canadian law to this day, even if the Court does not name it and rejects the related concept of terra nullius. “It’s a little more subtle than that. […] [mais] it’s fundamental to all aboriginal law in Canada,” he said.
Why are Indigenous people demanding his removal?
Also according to the 2018 AFN statement, the Doctrine of Discovery has been used “to dehumanize, exploit and subjugate Indigenous peoples and dispossess them of their most basic rights.”
The AFN is calling on the federal government to waive it in order to “recognize its current responsibility and obligations to First Nations” and to allow “a fair and equitable resolution of outstanding land, territory and resource issues.” The Assembly also says it has raised the issue with the Vatican “on many occasions”.
PHOTO GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE, REUTERS
Pope Francis during Mass at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, where Indigenous people have called for the repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada writes in its 2015 report that this doctrine has placed a heavy and “grossly unfair” burden on Indigenous claimants when it comes to land claims.
It also calls on the federal government and all stakeholders of all faiths to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery.
A declaration by the Pope on this subject, however, would have no effect in Canadian law, underlines Professor Felix Hoehn.
Why does the Vatican refuse to revoke it?
According to Professor Jean-François Roussel, the Vatican’s position is that the papal bulls at the origin of the doctrine “have been invalidated for centuries by a succession of events […] which had the indirect effect of rendering them obsolete”. Among these events, we cite another papal bull recognizing Aboriginal people as full human beings in 1537.
A Vatican representative to the United Nations therefore declared in 2010, regarding one of the bulls from which the Doctrine of Discovery is drawn, that it “has no value, and has not for centuries”.
However, “this is not enough”, maintains the APN.
The use of this doctrine began with the Pope, and the First Nations deserve respect from the Pope by apologizing to them.
Excerpt from the statement Abolish the Doctrine of Discovery of the AFN
Jean-François Roussel is also unconvinced by the arguments of the Holy See, observing that the pope can decide on the subject, whether the bulls in question are obsolete or not.
Many bodies of the Catholic Church have repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, including the Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops in a statement released in 2016. One of the signatories, Deacon Rennie Nahanee, then president of the Catholic Native Council of Canada, still hopes that Pope Francis will take advantage of the time he has left in the country to speak out on the subject. “The only one who could get rid of the papal bull would be Pope Francis, and the Natives are asking for it,” he recalls.
The Holy Father is to meet with a delegation of indigenous peoples Friday morning in Quebec before leaving for Iqaluit. The capital of Nunavut will be his last stop in Canada.