OTTAWA, June 8. / TASS /. Indigenous Canadian officials plan to travel to the Vatican to receive an apology from the Pope for the negative role of the Roman Catholic Church in running schools for Indian children in Canada. This was announced on Tuesday by the television channel Radio-Canada citing two leaders of the Native North American community.
According to them, such a trip is scheduled for November. Currently, this issue is being worked on with the representation of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada. The indigenous peoples of the North American country see the Pope’s apology as an important part of their reconciliation with the descendants of Europeans, who they say treated their ancestors unfairly.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week that the Roman Catholic Church must recognize the responsibility for the role it has played in establishing schools for Indigenous children in Canada where minors have been forcibly taken. He also recalled that in 2017, during a meeting with the head of the Vatican, Pope Francis, he called on him to apologize to the indigenous peoples of Canada. The Prime Minister added that Ottawa had already apologized to the indigenous peoples of Canada for the actions of previous governments in connection with the operation of these educational institutions and that “the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican, [также] must apologize. “
At the end of May, it was learned that the buried remains of 215 minors had been found during an excavation on the territory of a former school for Indian children in the city of Kamloops (British Columbia). This school operated from 1890 to 1969 and was one of the largest in Canada. The news shocked the Canadian public, who demanded that authorities conduct similar excavations on the territories of all former educational institutions for indigenous peoples, the last of which closed in 1996. There have also been calls for that the Roman Catholic Church publishes documents that would uncover such burials and other documents about the residents’ schools.
In 1876, Canada passed the Indian Act, which provided for, among other things, the seizure of the lands of the country’s native peoples for the needs of the federal government. In 1884, additions were made to it with the creation of special schools, which were called residents. Indian children were forcibly taken to these residential schools in order to integrate them into Canadian society. According to statistics, out of 150,000 students as a result of strokes and illnesses, at least 3,200 have died. The Roman Catholic Church was also involved in the management of these educational institutions.
In 2017, Trudeau issued a formal apology to Indigenous peoples across the country who suffered while studying at these schools. Authorities also agreed to pay C $ 800 million (then $ 638 million) to those affected.
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