Canada: Catholic Church Apologizes for Deaths and Abuse of Indigenous Children in Residential Schools

Canada’s Catholic Bishops Formally Apologize To Indigenous Peoples of the country after these last months more than 1,000 graves will be discovered near former boarding schools run by the Church, according to a statement released on Friday.

“We, the Catholic Bishops of Canada, express our deep regret and offer an unequivocal apology,” they said.

Also they recognized “the sufferings experienced by the internees” and the “serious abuses committed by certain members” of the Catholic community.

“Many religious communities and Catholic dioceses have served in this system which it has led to the suppression of indigenous languages, culture and spirituality, without respecting the rich history, traditions and wisdom of indigenous peoples ”they said.

The statement too recognizes the “historical and current trauma, as well as the legacy of suffering and the challenges that continue to this day for indigenous peoples ”.

This summer Over 1,000 anonymous graves have been found near former Catholic residential schools for Native children. Many indigenous groups have repeatedly asked the Pope for an apology.

The Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who has made reconciliation with indigenous peoples one of his priorities, lamented the refusal of Francis and the Catholic Church to recognize their “responsibility” and their “share of the blame”“In the management of boarding schools.

For Trudeau, these discoveries “They reaffirm a truth they have known for a long time” and “worsening the pain felt by families and indigenous peoples”, a “trauma” which is “Canada’s responsibility”, for which the government will continue to provide the resources necessary to “expose these terrible evils”.

The statement with the apology was released after the annual plenary meeting of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. In the text too It has been reported that Pope Francis will receive a delegation of indigenous people in December.

The apology comes less than a week before the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation for Missing Children and Internee Survivors, scheduled for September 30.

Serious discoveries rekindled the trauma suffered by some 150,000 Amerindian, Métis and Inuit children who were separated from their families, language and culture and were forcibly recruited from 139 boarding schools across the country until the 1990s.

Many of them suffered mistreatment or sexual abuse and more than 4,000 died, according to a commission of inquiry which concluded that Canada had committed a “Cultural genocide”.

Some of the victims who spoke to the agency Reuters they remembered perpetual hunger and tormenting loneliness. During this time, the schools were run under the threatens and frequent use of strength.

Canada’s federal government apologized for the system in 2008. The Catholic Church, which ran most of the schools, he hadn’t apologized until now.

(With AFP, EP and Reuters information)

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