Pope apologises for abuse at Indigenous schools
“I am deeply sorry,” Pope Francis historically said on Monday, as he issued an apology for the Catholic Church’s cooperation with Canada’s “catastrophic” policy of indigenous residential schools.
The pope acknowledged that the forced assimilation of Native peoples into Christian society destroyed their cultures, severed families and marginalised generations.
Francis’s apology was met with applause from school survivors and Indigenous community members who had gathered at a former residential school, south of Edmonton, Alberta.
He went on to add that the school policy is a “disastrous error” and that it wasn’t compatible with the Gospel and said further investigation and healing is needed.
“I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples,” Francis said.
This was the first event of Pope Francis’s weeklong “penitential pilgrimage”, he travelled to the lands of four Cree nations to pray at a cemetery and then deliver the long-sought apology at nearby powwow ceremonial grounds.
The pope was in a wheelchair and was escorted by four chiefs to the site near the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School and presented him with a feathered headdress after he spoke, making him an honorary leader of the community.
Notably, his words went beyond his earlier apology for the abuses committed by missionaries and instead took institutional responsibility for the church’s cooperation with Canada’s “catastrophic” assimilation policy, which the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission said amounted to a “cultural genocide.”
Pope Francis’ apology
Pope Francis’ apology was about an official policy which forced more than 150,000 native children in Canada to attend government-funded Christian schools from the 19th century until the 1970s in an effort to isolate them from the influence of their homes and culture.
The main aim was to Christianise them and assimilate them into mainstream society.
Physical and sexual abuse was rampant at these schools, and kids were beaten for speaking in their native languages. The abuse and isolation from family is what Indigenous leaders say is the root cause of the epidemic rates of alcohol and drug addiction now on Canadian reservations.
Over the past year, hundreds of potential burial sites at former schools have been discovered and drawn international attention to the schools in Canada and their counterparts in the US. The revelations prompted Francis to comply with the truth commission’s call for an apology on Canadian soil; Catholic religious orders operated 66 of the country’s 139 residential schools.
“It’s something that is needed, not only for people to hear but for the church to be accountable”
The reaction from the Indigenous people
As the pope spoke, some in the crowd wept, whilst others applauded or just listened in silence. Others chose not to attend at all.
“I’ve waited 50 years for this apology, and finally today I heard it,” survivor Evelyn Korkmaz said. “Part of me is rejoiced, part of me is sad, part of me is numb.” She had hoped to hear a “work plan” from the pope on what he would do next to reconcile.
Many of those in attendance wore traditional dress, while others wore orange skirts – the symbol of school survivors.
“It’s something that is needed, not only for people to hear but for the church to be accountable,” said Sandi Harper, who travelled with her sister and a church group from Saskatchewan in honour of their late mother, who attended a residential school.
“He recognizes this road to reconciliation is going to take time, but he is really on board with us,” she said, calling the apology “genuine.”
