Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett said today that Roman Catholics need to demand better from their church — which has so far refused to apologize for its role in the residential school system or release documents that could shed light on unmarked burial sites.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller also said it’s “shameful” that the church has so far ducked offering a clear apology to the many thousands of students who were forcibly confined at sites run by the church.
“Certainly, the Catholic friends that I speak to believe it should be done. There is a responsibility,” Miller said. “I think it is shameful that they haven’t done it, that it hasn’t been done to date.”
That took gall and of course it’s pure deflection. Besides the Catholic Church’s apology dance card is booked for the next several decades.
Also … Ottawa says it’s not liable for cultural damage caused by Kamloops residential school: court documents
The federal government is heading toward trial on a class-action lawsuit seeking reparations for the devastation residential schools inflicted on First Nation cultures, languages and communities.
The claim for reparations was originally part of a broader lawsuit filed in 2012 by the Tk’emlups te’ Secwepemc and shíshálh Nation in B.C. — along with residential school survivors known as day scholars — who were forced to attend Kamloops Indian Residential School and Sechelt Indian Residential School.
