The Pope has agreed to visit Canada on “a pilgrimage of healing and reconciliation”, in the latest response to the residential schools scandal by Church leaders.
His announcement, made through a Holy See press release on 27 October, was a direct response to a request, made by Canadian Bishops, that the Holy Father visit their nation and meet with Indigenous communities personally. Indigenous leaders have generally welcomed the Pope’s statement of intent, but have warned much more would be necessary to make moral and practical reparation for the role of the Church in managing residential schools.
Intended to “civilise” Indigenous peoples, residential schools was set up by the Canadian government in the 1870s, operating continuously until the last such school shuttered in 1997. At least 150,000 Indigenous people passed through the system, which, according to survivor testimony, was rife with abuse, neglect and mistreatment.
Given new names and forbidden from speaking in their native language, children at the schools were denied contact with their families in a deliberate strategy of “assimilation”. According to the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), at least 4,100 children in the system died from “disease or accident” over more than 160 years of operation.
Released in 2015, a landmark report by the TRC detailed comprehensive failures by both Church and state in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of students.
“Government, church and school officials were well aware of these failures and their impact on student health,” the commission concluded. “If the question is, ‘who knew what when?’ the clear answer is: “Everyone in authority at any point in the system's history.”
The Canadian Catholic Bishop’s Conference (CCCB) was widely criticised for delaying their apology to indigenous people, only expressing “profound remorse” for the complicity of the Church in abuse last month. The CCCB emphasised that a Canadian delegation to the Holy See, planned for December 17-20 this year, will include “Indigenous survivors, Elders, knowledge keepers, and youth”.
In their meeting with Pope Francis, this group will “share both their suffering as well as their hopes and desires for his eventual visit to Canada”. The date, itinerary and focus of the Pope’s eventual visit is, however, still to be determined.
Roseanne Archibald, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations , which represents more than 900,000 indigenous people, said she would welcome the Pope’s visit is he used it to “issue a long overdue apology to survivors and descendants”. She added that such an apology would not, however, be enough, if unaccompanied by criminal charges and financial compensation. Marc Miller, the minister for Crown-Indigenous relations, echoed Archibald’s sentiments, stating: “A full and complete apology from the Pope” would be an “important step towards reconciliation”.
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