Pope Francis embarked upon a week-long “trip of penance” to Canada on Sunday, wherein he is expected to apologise to Indigenous communities on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church for the abuse and trauma they suffered at the hands of the 19th-century state-funded, church-administered residential schools.
The Pope arrived at the Edmonton International Airport and was greeted by Prime Minister (PM) Justin Trudeau and Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General, Mary Simon. In a symbolic gesture, he kissed the hand of Alma Desjarlais, a residential school survivor from the Frog Lake First Nation.
Francis expressed hope that his “penitential pilgrimage might contribute to the journey of reconciliation already undertaken.” In the same vein, Treaty Six Grand Chief George Arcand Jr. told CBC News that his visit represents an “important historical moment for survivors” that marks a “beginning of a change in history” and enables them to begin their “healing journey.”
Reconciliation in action.#GGSimon welcomed His Holiness Pope Francis to Edmonton as he started the first leg of his historic visit to Canada. #WalkingTogether@Pontifex pic.twitter.com/38Wo0Ei9Up
— Governor General of Canada (@GGCanada) July 24, 2022
This was echoed by Grand Chief Desjarlais, who highlighted the intergenerational trauma suffered by the Indigenous communities and stressed that only “when you own up to a wrong, that’s when reconciliation can start.”
In this regard, Phil Fontaine, a former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations and a survivor himself, has hailed the Pope’s visit as a “watershed” moment in Canada’s “transformation.” However, he cautioned that it would be a “monumental mistake” to view “the apology as the end of the story and not the beginning.”
Francis is likely to visit the Ermineskin Indian Residential School in Maskwacis today, where he will deliver his first public address, meet with the indigenous community members, and is expected to formally apologise to them for the abuses inflicted on them by the church-run residential schools.
Between 1863 and 1996, Canada’s state-sponsored residential school system forcibly separated around 150,000 Indigenous children from their families, as they were not permitted to practise their culture or speak their language in order to assimilate them into mainstream Canadian culture and identity. Children were often physically and sexually abused, malnourished, and lived in poor housing conditions that led to infectious diseases.
The world is watching. So let it be known that genocide was committed against babies & children here in Canada by the state & churches, the majority player being the Catholic Church. Truth needs to be known far & wide. That’s why @Pontifex is here- for penance. Reckon & heal.
— Brandi Morin (@Songstress28) July 25, 2022
Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 2015 declared this policy as a “cultural genocide” following seven years of investigation. It is estimated that 6,000 children were killed in these schools, though the true number could be much higher given the frequent discovery of new gravesites.
The Pope’s visit has drawn mixed reactions from survivors. For instance, Assembly of First Nations Chief RoseAnne Archibald said that while she remains optimistic about the apology, the “unilateral” planning process for the visit by the church has in fact “re-victimised” survivors. She also criticised the papal trip for having “evolved to be more for the benefit of Canadian Catholic parishioners and the global Christian community” than about reconciliation with the Indigenous people. Archibald, a survivor herself, lambasted the schools as “institutions of assimilation and genocide.”
Others have also described the visit as “long overdue” and have demanded more than just an apology.
In fact, some of the demands raised by the Indigenous communities include: gaining access to church archives to learn the fate of children who never returned home from the residential schools; financial reparations; justice for the perpetrators of abuse; the return of indigenous artefacts from the Vatican museums; the rescission of a 15th-century doctrine of “terra nullius” that justifies the enslavement of Indigenous people by Christian missionaries; and support for extraditing an accused abuser—Rev. Joannes Rivoire, who now lives in France.
Sunday’s visit comes against the backdrop of the Pope’s comments in April expressing “sorrow and shame” for the “deplorable conduct” of a number of Catholics who engaged in hurling abuses and disrespecting the Indigenous peoples’ identity, culture, and spiritual values under the residential school system.
Pope Francis has arrived. He is visiting Canada to deliver the Roman Catholic Church’s apology to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Survivors and their descendants – for its role in operating residential schools, and for causing pain and suffering that continues to this very day. pic.twitter.com/bd07K1pXLF
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) July 24, 2022
This followed the gruesome discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves on the grounds of former schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan last year, which sparked an international hue and cry. In fact, the United Nations intervened to urge the Canadian government to probe into these mass burials.
To this end, Raymond Frogner, head archivist at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation opines that “it wasn’t for the discovery ... and all the spotlight that was placed on the Oblates of the Catholic Church as well, I don’t think any of this would have happened,” referring to the Pope’s visit. In fact, Indigenous people demand an apology on Canadian soil as a true acknowledgement of the past evils endured by them.
The Canadian government has repeatedly recognised the “systemic tragedies” faced by the Indigenous children and in December pledged $31 billion in compensation and long-term reform for aggrieved communities. Furthermore, in 2008, then-PM Stephen Harper issued a formal apology in recognition of the harm caused by the residential school system.
Dear brothers and sisters of #Canada, I come among you to meet the indigenous peoples. I hope, with God's grace, that my penitential pilgrimage might contribute to the journey of reconciliation already undertaken. Please accompany me with #prayer.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) July 24, 2022
Despite the conflicting emotional reactions of the survivors, the Pope’s visit and apology are much anticipated. In fact, the Chiefs of Maskwacis have issued a statement urging the Freedom Convoy, whose supporters are reportedly planning a protest to coincide with the Pope’s visit to “please stay home or find a place to protest that is not in our territory,” adding that “your agendas do not have a place at these events, and we wish that you respect our Territories, our community, and other First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples’ opportunity for healing.”
Arcand Jr. emphasised that while “many of our people are sceptical and they are hurt,” they “need to be able to somewhat forgive and move on,” describing the Pope’s much-anticipated apology as “an opportunity” to do so.
This is the first visit by a pope to Canada since 2002, and Francis is only the second pontiff to visit the country. This visit also comes as a surprise because earlier this month, the Pope cancelled his tour of Africa on account of his health condition.
Following his address at the Ermineskin school today, Francis will also lead multiple masses and visit Québec City and Iqaluit before departing on Friday.