Three dead, two hospitalized, following collision in Fredericton: police
Three people have died and two have been hospitalized after a speeding car struck a tree and landed on another vehicle in Fredericton Sunday morning.
Outrage directed at the Catholic Church for its role in Canada’s residential school system continues, with more churches allegedly set ablaze and faithful followers questioning their loyalty to the institution.
While some continue to call for a Papal apology, others have renounced the church altogether, unable to come to terms with the atrocities carried out by religious leaders.
“I’ve struggled with my feelings for the church and its position on many issues, including Indigenous rights, and I felt I’d reached this moment where I couldn’t take it anymore,” writer Bernadette Hardaker told CTV National News from her home in Orangeville, Ont.
In a recent editorial published by the Globe and Mail, Hardaker – who now describes herself as a former Catholic – said she was ashamed that she “upheld an institution that dodges and waves instead of taking responsibility.”
What started as an urge to write the Pope directly quickly turned into a printed confession of the shame she carried as a Catholic, writing, “This is more than hypocrisy; more than moral bankruptcy. This is sin, of the most mortal kind.”
“You can’t be part of an organization for your whole life and not care about it,” Hardaker told CTV National News.
“You want it to be better, and you know it should be better because the whole foundation of the teachings of the Catholic faith are based on love thy neighbour, and the attitudes of being kind, good, fair and honest.”
Hardaker is not alone in her internal struggles with the church. A growing number of Canadians are distancing themselves from the Catholic Church, which administrated an estimated 70 per cent of Canada's residential schools.
While Anglican, United and Presbyterian churches were also involved, particular focus has been put on the Catholic Church for its failure to formally offer a substantial and meaningful apology for the atrocities committed against Indigenous peoples despite repeated requests.
Now, in light of the finding of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential school sites around the country, there is growing outrage towards the church, resulting in alleged arson attacks on Catholic and Anglican churches in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Dozens more across the country have been vandalized.
Others are simply choosing to leave.
"I just felt the need to basically renounce it," Joey Matheson, former Catholic from Sydney, N.S., told CTV National News, who was met with some push back when he informed his parish he intended to leave.
“A lot of downplaying, a lot of placing blame elsewhere.”
Father Michael Bechard of the Diocese of London, Ont., says he has heard from both parishioners and non-religious community members alike who are concerned about the church’s lack of response to the crisis.
“I think that people reaching out to us for guidance or clarity is a good thing. They’re trying to figure out how could an institution which is supposed to represent peace, healing, forgiveness and love be involved in such atrocities,” Bechard told CTV National News.
“For Catholics to recognize that probably close to 70 per cent of the residential schools were operated by members of the Catholic Church… this is shocking for a lot of people.”
Bechard, the founder of a non-for-profit organization which seeks to bring healing and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, says that some individual bishops and leaders within the Church have worked hard to mend the ties between the Church and Indigenous peoples. Other reactions, he notes, have fallen short.
“I think what all of us can do moving forward is to commit ourselves to living in such a way that we refuse to be silent on the issues of abuse, implicit in areas that continue to exploit Indigenous peoples, and actively work to undo some of the wrongs that some of our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents may have committed,” he said.
“We have an obligation [as Catholics] to step up and be leaders in this area.”
But former Catholics like Hardaker doubt that the church will step up and commit to clear action any time soon.
“I think the church has a long way to go,” she said when asked if the Church could regain her trust.
“The windows need to open and the light needs to come in on so many things. To me, this was the final straw. An apology is just that, an apology. It is words. It’s actions that back up those words that will make the difference. So, I think I’ll be standing on the sidelines for quite some time.”
- Battis reported from Halifax, N.S.
Three people have died and two have been hospitalized after a speeding car struck a tree and landed on another vehicle in Fredericton Sunday morning.
Amid scientists' warnings that nations need to transition away from fossil fuels to limit climate change, Canadians are still lukewarm on electric vehicles, according to a study conducted by Nanos Research for CTV News.
A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Madonna put on a free concert on Copacabana beach Saturday night, turning Rio de Janeiro's vast stretch of sand into an enormous dance floor teeming with a multitude of her fans.
One person was killed and 23 others were injured when a bus crashed early Sunday on Interstate 95 in northern Maryland, police said.
The Maple Leafs battled back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Boston Bruins with consecutive 2-1 victories - including one that required extra time - in their first-round playoff series to push the club's Original Six rival to the limit before suffering a devastating Game 7 overtime loss.
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.