Elizabeth II should apologize and pay reparations for the Anglican Church’s role in Canada’s infamous residential school system, indigenous leaders say
Canadian indigenous leaders and survivors of the residential school system plan to raise the issue of a formal apology and reparations from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II later this week as her son and heir to the throne, Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla are to visit Canada.
Officially, the school system is compared to “cultural genocide,”More than 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their homes and made to go to church-run schools in Canada. This was until the 1990s.
Cassidy Caron, the president of Canada’s Metis Council, the representative body of the Metis people of northwestern Canada, has said she would bring up the issue during her meeting with Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, during a meeting at Rideau Hall.
It stems directly from colonization. It stems from assimilation and some financial reparations are absolutely helpful in helping us move forward,”Caron stated.
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According to the indigenous groups, the Crown has violated the treaties that it signed with many First Nations. These included promises to share resources. “The Queen is also a treaty member and she has an obligation to live up to the agreement,”Paul Andrew was a graduate of Grollier Hall, a residential school in Inuvik, Northwest Territories.
While an apology is nice, I believe it is more important to see the type of action needed.Andrew, the former chief Tulita Community in Northwest Territories said that, along with the fact that no land was taken from First Nations peoples, the Queen must ensure their rights and property are maintained. “We’re demanding a new relationship … The ball is in their court,”Andrew.
In its 2015 report on residential schools, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission identified the names of or information about more than 4,100 children who died in the system. But, it is unknown what the exact number was.
The Anglican Church, which is formally headed by the Queen, ran 36 residential schools – a number second to that of the schools operated by the Roman Catholic Church – between 1820 and 1969. It operated over 150 Indian day school during this period.
Piita Irniq was a former Nunavut Commissioner and a survivor from residential school. “They also need to apologize for the loss our Indigenous Being,”He said it, and added that “would be a really good thing to do, also for healing and reconciliation between Anglicans, as well as the Royal people.”
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“They’ve done almost the same thing as the Roman Catholic Church in terms of loss of culture, loss of language, loss of traditional spirituality,”Irniq referred to Anglican Church.
Charles and Camilla arrive in Canada to begin a three-day trip on Tuesday. It will include a “solemn moment of reflection and prayer”The media reports that a Heart Garden has been established to honor indigenous children who lost their lives in residential schools. The visit will also include a prayer in Inuktitut, Mi’kmaq music, a feeding the fire ceremony, as well as visits to indigenous communities.
Canada is still reeling from last year’s discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at various former residential school sites. Ottawa has pledged to address this issue. “historic reparations”For the survivors of December 2021.
Pope Francis also apologized to the Canada’s First Nations communities in April when he met Canadian indigenous delegations. “It is chilling to think of determined efforts to instill a sense of inferiority, to rob people of their cultural identity, to sever their roots, and to consider all the personal and social effects that this continues to entail: unresolved traumas that have become intergenerational traumas,”He said.
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Justin Welby was the Archbishop and Cardinal of Canterbury. He followed Justin Welby’s example later in that month.It is a pity that your church denigrated your religion, undermined your culture, and most importantly, your language.He spoke that same time.
But not all people agree that the Crown should be repaid. Murray Sinclair, an ex-chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission believes it can only make things worse.
“It will just detract from and distract us from the very important conversation we need to have about what can we do to change the way that we are, the relationships that we have,”The former chair was responsible for the investigation into the experiences of thousands indigenous children who were sent to residential schools.
