Charlotte Manuel rose early Friday morning at her home in Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation, British Columbia, to see Pope Francis apologize in person to nearly 200 indigenous leaders for their role in the Catholic Church. housing system in Canada. The 80-year-old Kamloops Residential School survivor said she appreciated the importance of the first papal apology of its kind, but that she was particularly proud of her leader and other indigenous representatives, who spent last week at the Vatican meeting with the Pope and other Catholic officials. He attributed to the team from Canada that he maintained dignity and respect throughout the historic moment. “I really prayed hard for our people not to be disappointed if they went there and did not apologize,” said Ms. Manuel, whose five children were baptized in St. Joseph Catholic Church, a two-story wooden building just down the street from her house. “I really wanted them to feel that they were able to convey the message to him so that they could come back and prepare themselves and their people to move on.” Mrs. Manuel left the church when she felt that she was being avoided after a divorce decades ago and has since embraced the spiritual practices of her nation. When she entered Facebook later Friday, she said, she saw reactions to the apology that were arguably more negative than hers. Like communities across Canada, hers has many different views on the Pope’s words. Less than a year ago, Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation sparked a period of intense national mourning and historic interrogation. when he announced that a ground penetration radar search had found evidence of more than 200 insignificant tombs near the former Kamloops residential school, just across the river from Kamloops, BC. Days after the announcement, someone spray-painted the words “crime scene,” Evil “and other graffiti outside St. Joseph’s Church. The location of hundreds more graves at other former residential school sites, also with ground penetration radar, has opened the door for public and political pressure on the Catholic Church to atone for its role and honor its previous compensation commitments. This week’s visit to Rome – during which the Inuit, Metis and First Nations delegations met separately and collectively with the Pope for several days – was a direct result of this attention. The Catholic Church ran about 60 percent of Canada’s residential schools from the late 1800s to the late 1960s and 1970s, when the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs took control of day-to-day operations in many schools. More than 150,000 indigenous children were forced to attend school, often away from home. Many were malnourished and poorly dressed and it was not uncommon for them to be physically or sexually abused by staff members. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that more than 4,000 children died in institutions. He said the housing school system was tantamount to cultural genocide. Gene Gottfriedson was baptized in St. Joseph, and he said excited that his granddaughter would soon be baptized there. But the 58-year-old altar boy, whose mother survived six years at Kamloops Residential School, said the pope’s apology is unlikely to do much to bridge the gap in his community between those who still believe in the foundation and those who want to cut all links. “His words may be what some people want to hear, but there are no implications for what happened,” he said. “No amount of money in the world can withstand the pain and bad memories of people who have had these problems.” We have a weekly newsletter for Western Canada compiled by the heads of our offices in BC and Alberta, providing a comprehensive package of news you need to know about the area and its position on issues facing Canada. Register today.
