Indigenous Reconciliation

Though much lauded, can what is documented in the Oscar-nominated film Sugarcane actually be believed?

On April 29, 2009, Canadian First Nations leaders met at the Vatican with Pope Benedict XVI, who expressed regret and shame for abuses committed at Indian residential schools. Assembly of First Nations Chief Fontaine said the group “heard what we came for” and was “very happy” with Pope Benedict’s response.

Canadian Catholic Indigenous faithful have been gathering online each month to pray the Rosary in the different Indigenous languages

Since the May 2021 announcement by Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir that ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technology had located the remains of 215 children on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, Canada has been embroiled in difficult attempts to come to terms with claims of mass graves, murder and genocide.

After two and a half years of work, Independent Special Interlocutor Kimberly Murray has released a two-volume report at the Oct. 29-30 National Gathering on Unmarked Graves in Gatineau, Que. that focused more on reparations and denialism than the identification and protection of unmarked graves.

Vancouver Archbishop Raymond Roussin, SM, called the residential school system “deeply flawed” when in 2008 he made an historic apology on behalf of the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

With over $17.5 million raised in the two-and-a-half years since the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund (IRF) became a registered charity in March 2022, the 73 Canadian Catholic dioceses are poised to exceed the five-year $30-million commitment Canada's Catholic bishops made to the nation's Indigenous peoples.

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) President Bishop William McGrattan today reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s commitment to reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous peoples to mark the second anniversary of Pope Francis embarking upon his penitential pilgrimage to Canada.

The following are the Commitments to Action in the Sacred Covenant signed Easter Sunday by the Archdiocese of Vancouver, the Diocese of Kamloops and the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc.

Flaws will be found, objections raised, and nits picked with the Sacred Covenant made between Catholic and Indigenous leaders regarding the Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C.