NEW After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
A prominent Canadian arm of the Catholic Church has apologized for the first time for the horrors that occurred in residential schools it ran for the federal government for more than a century.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) issued a statement Friday acknowledging what it described as "grave abuses that were committed by some members of our Catholic community" at the schools, as well as the residential school system's "suppression of Indigenous languages, culture and spirituality."
"Along with those Catholic entities which were directly involved in the operation of the schools and which have already offered their own heartfelt apologies, we, the Catholic Bishops of Canada, express our profound remorse and apologize unequivocally," the statement reads.
In addition, the bishops referenced a previously announced upcoming meeting between Pope Francis, residential school survivors and other Indigenous knowledge keepers in December. The bishops said that this meeting would be aimed at determining how the Pope "can support our common desire to renew relationships and walk together along the path of hope in the coming years."
The apology is an important step toward reconciliation, says Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, but adds that it falls short.
"The Truth and Reconciliation Committee's calls to action require that the Pope come to Canada to apologize," she told CTV News Channel on Friday. "It's very important that he come here and not that delegations of First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples have to travel to Rome. That's an unnecessary step."
While the apology acknowledges the abuses suffered by Indigenous children, Blackstock is skeptical about whether or not the lessons from the past have been taken on board.
"It's not clear to me that there's been a real deliberate learning within the church about the wrongdoing, even after the schools closed," she said, citing, "their evasiveness in accepting responsibility, their legal maneuvering so they didn't have to meet their compensation obligations."
As part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the church initially agreed to raise $25 million for survivors. In the end, less than $4 million was paid out.
Blackstock added that the Government of Canada needs to step up and address the ongoing problems currently plaguing Indigenous communities across the country.
There were 139 residential schools in the federally funded program, which operated in Canada between the late 19th century and 1996. Many of them were run by the Catholic Church.
Thousands of the 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children who attended these schools died with some estimates placing the number of deaths as high as 15,000. Hundreds of unmarked graves were found at the sites of several former residential schools earlier this year; in some cases the number of children buried at the sites is believed to be several times higher than any official death toll.
While individual priests and bishops have apologized for the church's role in running the schools, there had never been an official apology from the Canadian Catholic hierarchy until Friday. The Vatican has also never formally apologized, despite calls to do so.
The Catholic Church has been criticized, including by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for failing to provide full access to records related to residential schools. The bishops said in their statement that they will "continue the work of providing documentation or records that will assist in the memorialization of those buried in unmarked graves."
The CCCB said that in addition to existing initiatives to promote healing and reconciliation, it will launch new fundraising initiatives in every region of the country "to support initiatives discerned locally with Indigenous partners."
The bishops also pledged to enter "a new era of reconciliation" by inviting residential school survivors and other Indigenous people to share their stories with Canadian Catholics.
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation will be marked for the first time on Sept. 30.
-----------------------------------
If you are a former residential school student in distress, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
Additional mental-health support and resources for Indigenous people are available here.
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
French police cordoned off the Iranian consulate in Paris on Friday, where a man was threatening to blow himself up, Europe 1 radio and BFM TV.
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan, an assault coming in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Canadian banks that refuse to identify the carbon rebate by name when doing direct deposits are forcing the government to change the law to make them do it, says Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.