具体的な諸支援活動への資金配分は、先住民の組織 First Nationsや各地域の先住民たちと協議のうえ決定される。CCCB副会長の ウィリアム・マクグラタン司教は「我々カナダの司教たちはこれまで、先住民とは話しをせず、先住民については話さない、という原則をとってきてしまった。今後行われる、先住民のリーダーたちとの継続的な対話は、効果的な支援に役立つ」とし、 「被害者たちの痛みを取り除くのは容易ではないが、彼らの声に耳を傾け、関係を深め、可能な限り協力して取り組むことで、新しい希望の道を共に歩む方法を学びたい」と述べた。
Bishop Raymond Poisson of Saint-Jérôme and Mont-Laurier dioceses spoke to Vatican News’ Marine Henriot about the apology.
The Bishop, who was just elected as the president of the Canadian Bishops’ Conference, commented on the importance of the apology.
“This is the first time that, officially, all the Bishops of Canada have unanimously made an apology,” said Bishop Poisson.
He added that the Church in Canada is made up of around 65 dioceses, which belies the importance of their agreeing with one voice to issue such an apology. “Every Bishop voted for this apology,” he said.
Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, the Archbishop of Quebec, tweeted his support for the apology, and said Canada’s Bishops are committed to reconciliation and healing for indigenous peoples.
Listen to the full interview
Meeting with the ‘chief’ of the Church
In their statement, Canada’s Bishops recalled that Pope Francis has scheduled a meeting with survivors of the residential schools, several First Nations (as indigenous communities are known in Canada) elders, and young indigenous people. The encounter will take place in the Vatican on 17-20 December 2021.
“Pope Francis will encounter and listen to the Indigenous participants, so as to discern how he can support our common desire to renew relationships and walk together along the path of hope in the coming years,” wrote the Bishops.
Though the Church is largely decentralized, Bishop Poisson said indigenous peoples in Canada view the Pope through their own cultural lens as a sort of “chief”.
“In the First Nations culture, the Pope is the ‘chief’ of the Church, just like the First Nations have a chief,” he said, adding that the encounter is meant to be primarily pastoral, rather than political.
Canada’s Bishops also expressed their commitment to the process of healing and reconciliation, and pledged to fundraise to support pastoral initiatives “discerned locally with Indigenous partners.”
They also invited First Nations peoples to “journey with us into a new era of reconciliation,” which includes prioritizing healing initiatives and educating Catholic clergy and lay faithful on indigenous cultures and spirituality.
“We commit ourselves to continue the work of providing documentation or records that will assist in the memorialization of those buried in unmarked graves,” read the Bishops’ statement.
Symptomatic of a deeper problem
Commenting on the healing process, Bishop Poisson admitted much has yet to be done, but said the formal apology is “the first step in the process.”
He lamented the painful history of the Church’s involvement in Indian Residential Schools.
“These schools,” said Bishop Poisson, “are symptomatic of what happens when civilizations refuse to understand one another, and just want to turn the other into the same thing that he is, and make the other disappear.”
The Quebecois Bishop said the Church seeks to create a new relationship with Canada’s First Nations peoples, one based on mutual trust and understanding.
“We want to be together to decide the mode of education, listening to one another, walking together, and sharing our experiences, cultures, languages, and historical roots,” he said. “It is possible for us to be the real people of God. That is what they want and what we want: animated by the same Spirit but with different cultures.”
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Signs are pictured at a memorial outside the Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia., Sunday, June, 13, 2021. The remains of 215 children were discovered buried near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School earlier this month. (Credit: Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP.)
今回多くの遺体が埋めらているが発見されたのは、1899年から1997年にかけて政府の委託を受けたカトリック教会が運営していたMarieval Indian Residential School跡地。現地の関係者は「埋葬場所にはかつて印が付けられていたが、学校を運営していたカトリック教会が、印を外してしまった… 教皇は、最近までなされていたことに謝罪する必要がある。謝罪は”癒しの旅”の第一段階だ」と強調している。
