Catholic Church in Canada apologizes to natives for abuse at residential schools – franceinfo

The Catholic Church of Canada issued an official apology to indigenous peoples on Friday, September 24, after the discovery in recent months of more than a thousand graves near former residential schools. “We, the Catholic Bishops of Canada, express our deep remorse and offer an unequivocal apology”, they said. They also recognized “the suffering experienced in residential schools” and the “serious abuses which have been committed by some members” of the Catholic community.

“Many religious communities and Catholic dioceses have served in this system which has led to the suppression of indigenous languages, culture and spirituality, without respecting the rich history, traditions and wisdom of indigenous peoples. “, they admitted. They also took the measure of “historical and continuing trauma, as well as the legacy of suffering and challenges that continues to this day for indigenous peoples”.

In total, more than a thousand anonymous graves near former Catholic Indian residential schools were found in the summer of 2021, highlighting the policy of forced assimilation of Canadian First Nations. Some 150,000 Native American, Métis and Inuit children were forcibly conscripted into 139 such residential schools across the country, where they were cut off from their families, language and culture.

Many of them have been subjected to mistreatment or sexual violence, and more than 4,000 have died there, according to a commission of inquiry which had found a real “cultural genocide”. In recent months, the gruesome discoveries have sparked dread and anger in the country. Symbolically, the Canadian flag on the Peace Tower in Ottawa remains at half mast in honor of Indigenous children since the end of May and the discovery of the remains of 215 children in Kamloops, British Columbia.