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The Catholic Church ran the school from 1890 to 1969. It is one of 139 such schools in Canada. Also read: Terrible, 215 Children’s Bones Found in Indigenous Canadian School
This is not the first time Trudeau has asked the church and Pope Francis to apologise, and the church has also refused requests to publish historical records of their boarding school.
“As a Catholic, I am very disappointed with the decisions the Catholic Church has taken now and over the last few years. We are still seeing resistance from the church,” he said, as reported by Anadolu Agency on Sunday (6/6/2021).
“I think this will be a very important moment for all of us, especially Catholics across the country, to reach out to our local parishes, to reach out to bishops, cardinals and make it clear that we expect the church to step up, and take responsibility for its role in this. this,” he continued.
He said if an apology and making a public record didn’t happen, he might have to take stronger and last resort steps that would include going to court.
“Before we have to start bringing the Catholic Church to justice, I really hope religious leaders will understand that this is something they need to participate in,” he said.
There were about 150,000 Indigenous children taken from their families and forced to attend school starting in the 1820s. A large number suffered physical, psychological and sexual violence. It is estimated that at least 4,000 died and many lie in unmarked graves.
But the Canadian government’s hands are not completely clean when it comes to records from boarding schools. Between 1936 and 1944, it is estimated that the government destroyed about 15 tons of school-related documents, including about 20,000 Indian Affairs documents.
Other churches have apologized for running several such schools, including the United Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Anglican Church. Also read: The annular solar eclipse of June 10 turns out to be only visible in Canada and Russia
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