Residential schools apology to be sought in Rome

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This article was published 24/03/2022 (910 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For Assembly of First Nations Northwest Territories regional chief Gerald Antoine, this week’s trip to Rome to meet with Pope Francis “has been a long time in coming.”

“We asked for it for many years,” Antoine said at a Thursday news conference, adding the gathering will provide “dignity and respect” for residential school survivors and their families.

Delegates from the AFN will be in Rome Sunday through April 1; their meeting with the Pope is March 31.

Delegates from the Métis National Council and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami meet with the Pope on Monday.

The AFN delegates intend to ask the Pope to come to Canada to make an apology for how the Roman Catholic Church treated Indigenous people; to return Indigenous land given to church bodies; to go beyond the initiatives promised by the $30-million healing fund promised by Canadian bishops; to return of all artifacts held by the Vatican or other Roman Catholic bodies; and to repudiate Doctrine of Discovery that gave European countries full title to all lands discovered during the so-called Age of Exploration.

The meeting is an opportunity to “create a path forward,” Antoine said, adding the group will be “demanding justice for the innocent children whose lives were stolen.”

“We ask all Canadians to stand with us as we undertake this painful work,” he added.

Delegation member Cree Nation Grand Chief Mandy Gull-Masty recalled the meeting between Indigenous people and Pope Benedict in 2009, when he expressed sorrow over residential schools but did not apologize.

Gull-Masty “expects a different message” this time, adding the AFN delegation has “prepare a strong message for the Pope.”

There is “a lot of work to be done beyond an apology,” she said, adding she hopes the meeting “will set the tone” for future work with the Roman Catholic Church to “release people from the hurt, harm and trauma they continue to carry.”

Chief Rosanne Casimir of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation echoed those sentiments, adding her acknowledgement the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops “is committed to a process of healing and acts of contrition.”

Reconciliation is “not one-sided. It’s something we all have to do together,” Casimir said.

Her hope from the meeting is the Pope will “walk with us on a journey toward healing” as he gets a “real understanding of how residential schools impacted survivors, families, everyone.”

For youth delegate Taylor Behn-Tsakoza of Fort Nelson First Nation, it will be important for the Pope to hear from younger people, so he realizes they also “feel the impact” of residential schools every day, even though they didn’t attend them.

The older generation of survivors “really did the hard part,” she said. “It’s up to our generation to carry on that legacy.”

A total of 11 AFN members make up the delegation, including former AFN grand chief Phil Fontaine of Manitoba.

John Longhurst is in Rome this week to cover the papal visit by Indigenous people for the Free Press. See coverage of the visit at winnipegfreepress.com/papalvisit. 

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