Canadian Indigenous leaders want Pope to visit more locations
Toronto, USAP Indigenous leaders met with Canadian bishops on Wednesday and were told Pope Francis won’t add more stops, as they requested, to his trip to Canada, where he will apologize in person for the abuse suffered by Indigenous people at the hands of the Catholic church. Pope Francis, who has been using a wheelchair […]
Pope to visit Canada to apologise for Indigenous abuses
Vatican CityAP Pope Francis, who has been using a wheelchair because of a bad knee, is going ahead with plans to visit Canada this summer so he can apologize in person for abuse suffered by Indigenous people at the hands of the Catholic church. The Vatican on Friday announced that Francis will head to Canada on 24th […]
Pope’s missing apology adds to “lack of trust” from Indigenous people in Canada
Vatican CityRNS A meeting at the Vatican between Pope Francis and the Indigenous communities in Canada, originally scheduled for 17th to 20th December, was postponed due to the pandemic with the promise that the Pope might visit the country next year. But the scandals tied to the Christian-run residential schools in Canada, as well as […]
The Long Read: On day of remembrance, churches confront their role in Indigenous boarding schools
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, reports on how US churches are grappling with the role they played in the country’s boarding school system for Indigenous children…
Canadian Catholic bishops apologise for residential schools
Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaAP Catholic bishops in Canada apologised Friday “unequivocally” to Indigenous peoples for the suffering endured in residential schools, just as Pope Francis prepares to meet with Indigenous leaders at the Vatican later this fall. The institutions held children taken from families across the nation. From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than […]
Hunt for Indigenous children’s unmarked graves in Canada “barely scratched the surface” -researcher
Toronto, CanadaReuters A juvenile rib, a tooth and survivors’ testimony that children were dragged from their beds in the middle of the night to dig graves in an apple orchard gave clues on where to conduct the radar search that found unmarked graves of children at a former Canadian residential school, researchers said on Thursday. […]
Canada PM: “Heart breaks” with more Indigenous graves found
Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaAP Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his “heart breaks” after the discovery of more unmarked graves on the grounds of an Indigenous residential school in the southern Gulf Islands off the British Columbia coast. The Penelakut Tribe says more than 160 undocumented and unmarked graves have been found on the site […]
Canada Day muted as country reckons with treatment of Indigenous, other minorities; forest fire guts town as heatwave continues
Ottawa, CanadaReuters Multiple cities scrapped Canada Day celebrations on Thursday after the discovery of hundreds of remains of children at former Indigenous schools sparked a reckoning with the country’s colonial past. Calls to scale back or cancel celebrations snowballed after, beginning in May, almost 1,000 unmarked graves were found at former so-called residential schools in […]
Canadian Indigenous group says more graves found; US Catholic bishops pledge to assist review
Cranbrook, British Colombia, CanadaAP A Canadian Indigenous group said Wednesday a search using ground-penetrating radar has found 182 human remains in unmarked graves at a site near a former Catholic Church-run residential school that housed Indigenous children taken from their families. The latest discovery of graves near Cranbrook, British Columbia follows reports of similar findings […]
Explainer – Canadian churches on First Nations land are burning
RNS A slew of church burnings across western Canada have left six churches on First Nations land badly damaged or destroyed as of Tuesday. Four of the churches are within an hour’s drive of one another in south-eastern British Columbia. Sgt Jason Bayda of the Penticton South Okanagan Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement that […]