Pope Francis will visit Canada from July 24 to 30. During his visit, the Pope will meet five times with Canada’s indigenous tribes. International news agencies report that the country’s indigenous communities will seek forgiveness from the Catholic Church for the suffering and pain they have experienced. The face-to-face meeting with the pope is the latest chapter in years of accusations by tribal groups against the Catholic Church over Canada’s notorious residential schools.
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Until a quarter of a century ago, various investigative agencies have discovered that there was great injustice in the religious schools run by the Christian denominations, including the Catholic Church, for tribal students in various parts of Canada. Many of the schools run for the Canadian government were in charge of the Catholic Church. The Pope’s plan is to officially apologize to the locals for the activities of the schools, which were carried out with the aim of ethnically cleansing the country.
“Unfortunately, many Christians, especially some denominations, are involved in the cultural destruction of indigenous communities in many ways.” Pope Francis made this clear in his speech at St. Peter’s Square.
Controversial schools operated in Canada from 1831 to 1996. The stated aim of the schools was to make tribal students part of the mainstream society, but often the children had to face mental and physical abuse here. Most of the Catholic communities acted as agencies of the government in running the school.
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It is estimated that around one and a half lakh children have been separated from their families in these schools. In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that children suffered severe abuse, rape and starvation here. The commission termed it as cultural genocide. The tribal groups protested against the church after the mass graves of children were found during the inspections conducted in many school campuses as part of the investigation.
These schools were also the main topic of the talks held between the Pope and the tribal groups at the Vatican in March and April this year. Last Sunday, the Pope expressed his solidarity with the pain suffered by the indigenous people. The Pope said that God will heal their wounds. The Pope will visit areas such as Edmonton, Musquechis, Lac Sainte Anne, Quebec and Equillet.
The incident drew international attention last year when the remains of 215 children were recovered from a locked school in British Columbia. The tribal organizations had also demanded that the investigation into the unidentified graves continue and that the school operator, the Catholic Church, apologize.