Upon his arrival on Sunday, July 24, Pope Francis met with Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors in Edmonton, Alberta. It was in this province that the greatest number of these establishments had been created, in which, for more than a century, the children of the First Nations were forcibly sent and abused. His arrival therefore revives scars and expectations are high.
The pope was welcomed to the sound of native music on Sunday, July 24. Alongside Justin Trudeau, First Nations leaders and survivors of residential schools were able to greet him, reports our correspondent in Montreal, Alexis Gacon. Evelyn Korkmaz spent several years in the Sainte-Anne boarding school, where hundreds of children suffered physical violence, she does not think she will be able to exchange with the pope when he comes to the country, but she would like him to understand this message : ” I want more than an apology. I want gestures she urges. I wish for justice, all documents on residential schools owned by the Church must be made public. »
Until the 1990s, approximately 150,000 children, Inuit, Métis or members of the First Nations, were forcibly enrolled in these establishments, which were largely run by the Catholic Church. Thousands never came back. As a commission of inquiry revealed, children were often victims of abuse and rape.
” Bring those responsible to justice »
This is the case of former Algonquin chief Jimmy Papatie. He was five years old when he was torn from his family to attend a boarding school in Quebec. Today, it is still struggling to rebuild itself. “ Having experienced sexual abuse from a priest in boarding school is traumatic. They haunted my life, 38 years later, I understand the effects, the impacts on my life, he testifies. Even if the pope apologizes, it’s not going to change my life. I am very reluctant, I tell myself all the time that his visit is a public relations exercise to calm public opinion here in the country. I never wanted the pope to come and apologize, it’s not the pope who is responsible. He is the head of the Church, but he is not responsible. All that is expected of the pope is that all the people who hurt children, the nuns, the brothers, be brought before the courts. These people must be dismissed from the Church altogether, but also sent to therapy centers, then go to prison if necessary. These people don’t go to prison, that’s what’s absurd. They do not have the same treatment as an ordinary citizen. »
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The pope’s trip has long been put on hold, due to his failing health. Father Yoland Ouellet, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in French-speaking Canada, is delighted that it has been maintained. He thinks the visit will help the Church and the local people reconcile. ” It is nevertheless a task in our history and we have a responsibility to assume it. It is a shadow in our beautiful history. »
On Tuesday, the pope gives a mass at the stadium in Edmonton. The first 16,000 tickets donated online to attend sold out in fifteen minutes.
It is an issue of recognizing what happened in residential schools in terms of abuse of all kinds over a long period of time. These abuses happened, but for a very long time, we did not talk about it, and even among themselves, the natives did not talk about it. It was attached to a cultural deprogramming and linguistic deprogramming enterprise.
Jean-François Roussel, associate professor at the Institute of Religious Studies at the University of Montreal