a Maskwacis, in Alberta, the church church spoke of “pain, indignation and shame” in the face of the ill -treatment inflicted on some 150,000 children from 1831 to 1996 in 139 boarding schools governed by Christian missionaries.
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The first stage of Pope Francis’ “Pilgrimage” in Canada on Monday, July 25, will have been a cemetery. Arrived the day before Edmonton (Alberta, West) in order to request forgiveness for the ill -treatment of all kinds inflicted, from 1831 to 1996 in 139 residential schools governed by Christian missionaries, to some 150,000 children withdrawn from their indigenous families in order to “Killing the Indian in them”, the head of the Catholic Church has taken place in a cemetery located south of the city, on the territory of the four nations of Maskwacis. Canadian authorities today believe that more than 6,000 First Nations children, Inuit or Métis have paid their internment in their lives. Bodies are regularly discovered around the old establishments. Many other former residents have died prematurely.
a Maskwacis was one of the largest, that of Ermineskin. A stone’s throw from the monument that commemorates the site of the former boarding school, the pope, in a wheelchair escorted by four First Nations chiefs, was then meeting some 2,000 representatives of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada. They have long demanded apologies from the Catholic Church, which administered 60 % of these establishments. In the first speech of his stay, in the presence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he asked them no less than seven times “sorry” for “the devastating experiences that took place in the boarding schools”.
In these establishments, the children were cut off from their families, their language and their culture. They were often forced to work and subjected to living and hygiene conditions that made the bed of epidemics. Many of them have suffered ill -treatment and abuse, especially sexual. The other Christian confessions were excused in the 1990s for having contributed to this system. The Canadian government too. The Catholic Church had refused to do so. Until in the spring, Pope Francis received indigenous representatives in Rome and initiates an apology presentation. The visit to Canada is the continuation of this approach.
“Pain, indignation and shame”
The head of the Catholic Church gave them a very personal discourse, speaking of “pain, indignation and shame” which accompanies it since spring.
“I ask forgiveness for the way in which, unfortunately, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers who oppressed the indigenous peoples. I am afflicted. I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the way in which many members of The Church and religious communities cooperated, even through indifference, these projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation of the governments of the time, which led to the residential system. (…) It was a question of a devastating error, incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (…) I would like to repeat it with shame and clarity: I humbly ask for the evil committed by many Christians against Aboriginal peoples. “
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