First modification:
Saint John of Newfoundland (Canada) (AFP) – Prince Charles and his wife, Camila, began a visit to Canada on Tuesday, during a three-day trip to the North American country, to which they were invited by the Governor General, official representative of Queen Elizabeth II in the country, to “talk with the indigenous peoples.
The royal couple made their first stop in Saint John of Newfoundland (east), where they were welcomed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Governor General Mary Simon, of Aboriginal origin.
“I encourage you to talk to the natives to hear their stories, their successes and their solutions, and I encourage you to learn the truth about our history, the good and the bad,” Simon said on the sidelines of the visit.
The couple arrive in Canada almost a year after the discovery of the first unmarked graves of children in former Catholic boarding schools for natives, sparking a scandal and revealing the colonial history of this vast country.
Upon arrival, Carlos and Camila approached the villagers and greeted the Canadians gathered near the entrance to the Canadian Confederation Building.
“I know our visit here this week comes at an important time for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people across Canada, who are openly and honestly reflecting on the past to build a new relationship for the future,” Prince Charles said. .
The welcoming ceremony included a prayer in Inuktitut, the traditional language spoken by the Inuit people, as well as a musical performance by an Inuk soprano and a traditional Mi’kmaq song.
The boarding school scandal
The couple are due to travel to the capital, Ottawa, and on Thursday to the Northwest Territories, a region of northern Canada bordering the Arctic, which is warming three times faster than the rest of the planet.
“(Prince Charles) wants to talk about the environment and the natives want to talk about religious boarding schools,” historian and expert on the British monarchy James Jackson told AFP.
“The three provinces most affected by the residential school scandal are British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta, which he avoids this time. When you go to the Northwest Territories, you can talk about the environment without talking too much about the residential school scandal. he added.
The royal visit comes at a delicate time of transition for the British monarchy, rocked by two recent royal trips to the Caribbean, during which Prince William and then Prince Edward were called upon to apologize for the United Kingdom’s slave past. . .
Elizabeth II, the 96-year-old British Queen, has also canceled almost all of her public appearances in the past seven months due to health concerns, although the monarch, who has been on the throne for 70 years, made a surprise visit at the opening of a line of the London Underground that bears his name.
Despite the deep affection that two-thirds of Canadians express for the Queen, whom they have known all their lives, 51% want the end of the constitutional monarchy for future generations, according to a recent poll by the Canadian Angus Reid Institute.
As Canada critically reviews its colonial past, 65% reject the idea of Carlos, 73, becoming king and head of state of Canada, and 76% refuse to recognize Camila, 74, as its queen .
© 2022 AFP
“Travel aficionado. Twitter scholar. Writer. Extreme coffee guru. Evil pop culture fanatic.”