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Part 1:<I thought, what made him change his mind?
What made him make that apology? Why did it take so long?> Flora
says.>....
Part
2:
<Pope calls treatment of Indigenous in
Canada schools 'genocide'....>
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Part 3: <[The apology] fell short,....>
and
Francis has apologized personally and on behalf of <many>
individual bad actors, but not for the Church as a whole.
....> |
Part 4: <Apologies for the role that the
Roman Catholic Church, as an institution, played in the
mistreatment on the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and
sexual abuse that Indigenous children suffered in residential
schools run by the church,not enough> Trudeau said....
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Part 5: <...the pope said the Church
was asking <burning questions... on its difficult and demanding
journey of healing and reconciliation.>... |
Part 6: <You never invite a wolf into your
den,> Chantalle said frankly, during a telephone interview with
Al Jazeera days before the pope’s arrival. <Like, you don't
bring somebody here that hasn't fully understood what has gone
on for all these years. I don't accept that he's coming to my
home. It’s not something I agree with.> .... |
Part 7: <Part of me is
rejoiced, part of me is sad, part of me is numb. But I'm glad I
lived long enough to have witnessed this apology,> Korkmaz said
during a news conference. <But like I said, I want more because
50 years is too long to wait for an apology.>... |
Part 8: RoseAnne
Archibald, national chief for the Assembly of First Nations, who
also greeted the pope, criticised the <unilateral> organisation
of the trip and the <archaic> nature of the church, which has no
women in leadership positions. <We don't feel that it has been
about survivors>.... |
Part 9: Eastern Gate Windspeaking Woman, a
survivor who had travelled more than 500km (311 miles) from New
Brunswick, told me she felt like a <Christmas ornament> and was
not sure she belonged there. <It's not about the survivors,> she
said. <I felt we were pushed aside, like we didn't matter.
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CLICK HERE ON HOW TO READ THE BELOW (updated July
31 2022)
When one hurts or kills a child
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi
figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da
qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so
called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali
Al Jazeera
27 July 2022
By Brandi Morin
<<Pope's Canada visit 'doesn’t heal' wounds of Indigenous
survivors
For many Indigenous survivors of abuse in Canada, the papal tour
is a reminder of the 'horrors' committed against them.
Warning: The story below contains details about abuse in
residential schools that may be upsetting. Canada’s National Indian
Residential School Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day on
1-866-925-4419.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – Chantalle Buffalo lives with the
painful history of Canada’s residential schools on her doorstep in
Maskwacis First Nations community in central Alberta. The 32-year-old's
mother and other relatives are survivors of Ermineskin Indian
Residential School, the former government-funded, Roman Catholic-run
boarding facility for Indigenous Peoples that operated there for more
than 50 years until 1975. Pope Francis paid a visit to the site this
week as part of his <pilgrimage of penance> for abuses committed against
Indigenous communities. But many like Chantalle are less than impressed
with the pontiff's visit. <You never invite a wolf into your den,>
Chantalle said frankly, during a telephone interview with Al Jazeera
days before the pope’s arrival. <Like, you don't bring somebody here
that hasn't fully understood what has gone on for all these years. I
don't accept that he's coming to my home. It’s not something I agree
with.>
From the late 1800s until 1997, there were 139 federally mandated
residential schools which assimilated Indigenous children into
mainstream Canadian culture. Abuse was widespread and the children were
barred from speaking their Indigenous language and practising cultural
norms. More than 150,000 Indigenous children attended the institutions –
60 percent of which were overseen by the church.
Maskwacis is the only First Nations community and former
residential school site the pope is visiting during his six-day-long
trip to Canada, where he reiterated an earlier apology about the
church's role in the schooling system. Chantalle fumed as she spoke
about the preparations the community and the Province of Alberta made to
host the pope, who is also visiting Quebec and Nunavut. <The
reconciliation, there's a whole bunch of reasons why he is coming, yes,>
she said. <But it's not like he's going to come and recognise what has
happened on our reserve.> Maskwacis, like many other First Nations,
struggles with crumbling infrastructure, poverty, addictions, suicide
and high unemployment rates. But Alberta Transportation was paving
several roadways in the Ermineskin community of Maskwacis as well as
improving the surrounding infrastructure specifically for the pope's
visit. Chantalle felt it was a cover-up of the real and lasting effects
of the residential schools where thousands of Indigenous children
experienced neglect and abuse, and died. In recent years, unmarked
graves of Indigenous children have been discovered on the grounds of
former institutions, and the searches continue. <Everyone here is going
to get dressed up in their traditional clothing for him [the pope]. And
they’re paving the way for him. Oh, my God, it’s just blowing my mind!>
Chantalle said. <I don't think he really is going to see all of the
poverty and what's going on in the reserve. And they have this Holy guy
coming to the reserve and be a few feet away from the former residential
school. They're still uncovering graves there…> Although several of
Chantalle's family members planned to attend the ceremony with the pope
in Maskwacis, she refused to go. <I know a lot of community members
aren't happy about him coming either.> 'Follow your words with actions'
Christi Belcourt, 55, a Metis (mixed Indigenous and non-Indigenous)
artist from the Lac Ste Anne Metis community – located about 51 miles
(82km) west of Edmonton and home to the site of a Catholic pilgrimage
which annually attracts thousands of Indigenous participants from across
Canada and the United States – also does not support the pope’s visit to
her homeland. She said that although the Catholic Church perpetrated
violence against Indigenous Peoples, the institution is irrelevant to
her. <I think for a lot of us who are not Catholic, who follow a
traditional way, the Catholic Church is not even something that we give
a thought,> she explained during a telephone interview. <But, as a
traditional person, what I've learned in our lodges is that we always
respect anybody else's way of approaching spirituality. That's why I
think there’s a lot of silence around this visit by a large majority of
Indigenous folks because, number one, I think the church is not
relevant; and number two, we respect the fact that there are family
members we have or others in our community for whom the church is
relevant.> For Christi, the pope’s apologies to Indigenous survivors do
not go far enough. She said she will decide if it is sincere when the
church takes action. That starts with the repealing of the Doctrine of
Discovery. The doctrine was created by Pope Alexander VI in 1492 upon
Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas and was used by European
colonisers to stake claim to Indigenous lands. The land was considered
terra nullius (vacant land) if it had not yet been occupied by
Christians. It ushered in an era of land dispos-session and genocide
against Indigenous nations. <You have to follow your words with actions.
We need the church to repeal the Doctrine of Discovery, we need them to
return our lands [the lands which are still owned by churches on
Indigenous territories]. We need them to actively participate in
expelling priests and nuns who have abused our children instead of
offering them shelter and shuffling them around to different communities
where they can continue the abuses and actively seek persecution.> These
are not the only stipulations from Christi and other Indigenous Peoples,
including survivors and Indigenous delegates who travelled to Rome in
late March and April to meet with Pope Francis. They have requested the
handing over of thousands of documents held by the Catholic Church and
federal and provincial governments, which may hold clues to help piece
together the circumstances behind the deaths of Indigenous children in
residential schools. Additionally, the Vatican currently holds a vast
collection of Indigenous ceremonial artefacts, many of which belong to
Indigenous communities in Canada. It is time those <looted> items are
returned, Christi said.
<There are a number of these things that they [the Catholic
Church] could be doing. That would prove that they are truly remorseful
and prove that they're truly wanting to seek a new relationship. In my
mind, this would be a brand-new relationship because we've never had a
relationship with them that has been anything other than them trying to
assimilate, oppress and commit genocide against us.> >>
Read all here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/7/27/popes-canada-visit-doesnt-heal-wounds-of-indigenous-survivors
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