July 25, 2022, 7:11 AM
July 25, 2022, 7:11 AM
Pope Francis began his six-day visit to Canada on Sunday.. During this trip, which the pontiff described as a “penitential pilgrimage”, he is expected to reiterate his apologies for the abuses in Catholic boarding schools for natives. Members of indigenous communities, dignitaries and representatives of the clergy were waiting for him when he arrived in Edmonton, Alberta.
With information from our correspondents in Montréal, Diana Gonzales, Marie Normand, and an interview by Véronique Gaymard.
Amid the sounds of drums and traditional chants, a brief welcome ceremony began on Sunday for Pope Francis, who was accompanied by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Governor General Mary Simon, of Inuk origin.
As part of this event, alumni from Catholic pensions and indigenous leaders greeted the pontiff one by one. The grand chief of the Treaty Six Confederation of First Nations, George Arcand, stressed the importance of the papal visit and the excuses survivors hope to hear for abuses committed in residential schools run by the Catholic Church.
“Most importantly, we welcome the Pope to come speak and apologize to our survivors. And so we can begin our path to healing.”
Due to the health problems that afflict the pope, who uses wheelchairs, The welcome ceremony was not very long, this to allow the pontiff to rest and regain strength to meet a hectic schedule of visits. This Monday he will meet with members of the Maskawacis Cree community, south of Edmonton, home to the former Ermineskin boarding school, one of the largest in Canada.
As a result of the papal visit, the testimonies of survivors begin to be heard. Jimmy Papatie, a former Algonquian chief, recounted that at the age of 5 he was separated from his family to attend a boarding school in Quebec, and to this day he continues to struggle to rebuild.
“The fact of having suffered sexual abuse by a father, It has traumatized my life. Thirty years later I understand the effects and impacts on my life. Even if the pope apologizes to him, that will not change my life. I did not expect that the pope comes to apologize, he is not responsible, he is the head of the church; but he is not responsible for everything,” Papatie commented.
This survivor asks the pope that all those responsible for abuses against those children be judged before the courts, removed from the church and sent to therapy centers. “They should be sent to prison if necessary, some are not jailed and that is appalling. They cannot have the same treatment as an ordinary citizen”, he stressed.
For Professor Jean-François Roussel of the Institute of Religious Studies of the University of Montreal, who works on the project of reconciliation and decolonization of residential schools, the excuses that the pope can present will not be enough, but it is a first step for the beginning of a reconciliation.
“The pope’s excuses are important to a large number of indigenous people and in particular to those of Catholic origin. It is a way of acknowledging the abuses they suffered in Catholic pensions […] Many natives demanded an apology from the Catholic Church after a long time, some Catholic organizations presented their apologies earlier, but the truth and reconciliation commission recommended that the Pope himself apologize on behalf of the Catholic Church.
It should be noted that between 1883 and 1996, some 150,000 indigenous children lived in a network of 139 centers financed by the federal government. and run by religious groups, mostly Catholic. A series of abuses such as beatings, sexual assaults, medical negligence, racism, among other harassment, were common within those institutions. According to some experts, more than 6,000 children died in these places.
