For a religious institution that preaches the power of atonement, the Catholic Church sure struggles to own up to its sins. Asked, over decades, to acknowledge its central role in Canada’s residential school system, the Church simply decided it’d rather not.
Perhaps the unmarked remains of 215 children found on the former grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School will be enough to eke out an apology? After all, the colonial hellhole in question was run by the Church, along with more than two-thirds of Canada’s residential schools.
While the Anglican, United, and Presbyterian churches all apologized or confessed for their parts in the residential school system by 1994, nearly thirty years later the Catholic Church stands alone in its determination to dodge accountability. It won’t admit wrongdoing. It won’t say sorry. And it won’t open up its coffers to help locate the children it abandoned in unmarked graves, reunite them with their families, or help the Indigenous communities scarred by the legacy of its schools.
No comments:
Post a Comment