Showing posts with label reconciliation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reconciliation. Show all posts

Saturday, July 30, 2022

Today's News: From All Over

Reconciliation visit: 
The final stop for Pope Francis in Canada was a visit to Iqaluit. The Globe and Mail reports: 
On Friday, [Pope Francis] met with several school survivors In Iqaluit before an outdoor performance that included traditional throat singing and drum dancing. 
His speech before hundreds began with another apology for the “evil perpetuated” on Indigenous people by church members. Speaking in his native Spanish, Francis’s speech was translated into English and Inuktitut. 
He told them he was sorry in Inuktitut, a meaningful gesture to many in the audience. “I thank you for having had the courage to tell your stories and to share your great suffering that I could not imagine,” he said in Spanish. 
“This only renewed in me the indignation and shame that I have felt for months.” 
The pontiff’s tour has fostered healing for some school survivors and anger in others. 
 ...Early on Friday, before his flight to Iqaluit, Pope Francis held a private meeting with an Indigenous delegation at the residence of Quebec Archbishop, Cardinal Gรฉrald Lacroix. After the meeting, Ghislain Picard, Assembly of First Nations regional chief for Quebec/Labrador, said it will be up to each person to decide if the Pope’s trip met their expectations. “It’s really up to them to take the measure of all this, whether it’s going to provide that kind of way for their healing,” 
Mr. Picard said after the meeting. “It’s going to take time.” 
 
Saskatchewan: 
For some reason that nobody has yet explained, Saskatchewan has asked the feds for the authority to determine which immigrants will be allowed to settle here, and also they want the feds to give us all the money. It ain't gonna happen, of course, but maybe the Sask Party thinks they can gin up another grievance against the Trudeau Liberals?

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Thursday, July 28, 2022

Today's News: "Rescind the Doctrine"


The Pope's reconciliation events were in Quebec today - above is a photo of a delegation from the Innu community of Mashteuiatsh, where the last Quebec residential school closed in 1991. The group of a dozen people walked 275 km to reach the Quebec City reconciliation events, and included members of the Innu, Anishinaabe, Naskapi, Wendat and Atikamekw communities.
Launiรจre-Mathias, the executive director of the non-profit group Puamun Meshkenu, said the seven-day adventure cultivated a sense of "collective pride." 
"It was teamwork. Each person travelled the kilometres that they could. When they weren't walking, they were supporting each other emotionally and spiritually," he said. "It was a reflection of our communities, our nations."
It was another example, I think, of the remarkable sense of community evident in this reconciliation visit. 
In spite of the words of Trudeau and Simon, below, I don't think we are going to be seeing anything more now from Pope Francis and the Catholic Church than has already been given. 
But this visit created a sense of community among Indigenous people across the country -- it was one of the things that made this visit worthwhile and it will have an impact on the future.  
I also hope the Pope will remember how seriously Canadians believe the Catholic Church needs to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery.
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Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Today's News: "A whisper in our minds"



In the end, the Pope's apology is important, though it will not ease the pain. The apology fell short because it did not deal with the the actions of the Catholic Church overall: 
The chief commissioner of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has issued a blistering critique of Pope Francis’s apology to Indigenous people, saying “it left a deep hole in the acknowledgment of the full role of the church in the residential school system, by placing blame on individual members of the church.” 
Mr. Sinclair issued a press release just moments before Pope Francis appeared before thousands of people at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium for a mass commemorating St. Anne, grandmother of Jesus. 
In 2015, the commission issued Call to Action #58, asking the Pope to deliver an apology in Canada for the church’s role in the residential school system. On Monday, seven years later, Pope Francis heeded the call, but apologized for individual Catholics who participated in the schools, not for the church as a whole. 
 ...the Pope told the delegation [to Rome in April] he was sorry for the “deplorable conduct” of church-members who abused children in residential schools and vowed to bring the sentiments to Canadian soil. 
Many Indigenous leaders had been hoping he would expand on his words in Rome and provide an institutional apology, not just express sorrow for the actions of individual Catholics. 
But the apology reiterated much of what he’d said in Rome. “I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the Church and of religious communities co-operated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools,” he said on Monday 
...Spectators gave the speech a warm reception, clapping and cheering after his expression of sorrow. Afterward, however, many onlookers said they expected more. “I’m happy to hear that he said the words ‘I’m sorry,’ but it wasn’t as encompassing as it could have been,” said Kukdookaa Terri Brown, residential school survivor and founding chair of the survivors circle with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation She also noted the Pope declined to mention sexual abuse or the Doctrine of Discovery in his speech.
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Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Today's News: Updates

Papal reconciliation visit:
An apology from Pope Francis. Giving the Pope a headdress is not being well received online, however - I am seeing some negative tweets on this tonight. The apology was generally welcomed, with some comment also that the Discovery doctrine has not yet been revoked. A useful reference: On a side note, an update on the "boil water" advisories - the Trudeau government has made a huge difference. CPC leadership campaign:
So this morning Angus Reid released a poll showing that the Conservatives would have a better chance of winning government with Charest rather than Poilievre. 
And then within a couple of hours, former PM Stephen Harper took the wind out of Charest's sails by releasing his endorsement of Poilievre. 
So, just another day in Canadian politics, I guess.
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Monday, July 25, 2022

Today's News: Pope Francis arrives in Canada


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