Ontarians are taking a stand against the chain of church burnings that has devastated communities across the country. Grassroots movement Civic Revival announced that they are holding an event in Mississauga this Saturday, August 7, to “Stop the Burning of Churches in Canada.”
The alleged document details $25 million in “in-kind” services the Catholic Church provided as compensation for Residential school survivors — one of their obligations in the Residential School Settlement of 2006.
Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Party, and the Canadian media have, by their deafening silence and intimations, given the all-clear on anti-Catholic bigotry and terrorism.
Canadians are increasingly recognizing the horror of their country’s deep-rooted colonial past and have begun looking for, and demanding, remedies. Now is the time for change.
A Canadian priest has been banned by the Manitoba archdiocese from “publicly teaching” after making outrageous claims during sermons, saying that the well-documented abuse of children at residential schools is “fake news” and survivors are only saying they were abused to get money.
More than 500 people marched through downtown Ottawa on Saturday, calling for an independent investigation into Canada’s residential schools.
NDP MPs Mumilaaq Qaqqaq and Charlie Angus organized the “March for Truth and Justice” on Parliament Hill and in downtown Ottawa.
In a post on Instagram, Qaqqaq, the MP for Nunvaut, said the march will “demand an independent investigation into Canada’s crimes against Indigenous Peoples. Enough is enough: (Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau and (Minister of Justice) David Lametti need to stop making excuses and ensure that we have a special prosecutor.”
A Catholic priest has been banned by a Winnipeg archdiocese from speaking publicly after accusing residential school survivors of lying about sexual abuse to get more money from court settlements, of spreading falsehoods about residential schools, and joking about shooting those writing graffiti on churches, among other comments.
The statements were made over weeks of services at St. Emile Roman Catholic Church, and were included in videos on its Facebook page.
During a July 10 mass Father Rhéal Forest — who was temporarily placed at St. Emile while the parish’s regular pastor, Father Gerry Sembrano, was on vacation — said residential school survivors lied about being sexually abused so they would receive more money during the settlement process with the federal government.
Well that should set a few more churches alight.
A Coptic Christian church was recently burned to the ground—not in Egypt, where the torching of Coptic churches is not an uncommon occurrence, but in Canada, also known as “the church-burning centre of the Western world.”
In the early morning hours of July 19, St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in Surrey, which served 500 families and provided food for the homeless, was set aflame and completely destroyed. Only one charred wall remains standing.
After more than a year of quarantines, lockdowns and separations due to COVID-19, Canada is slowly reopening. But experts say another pandemic, of femicide and domestic violence, has been quietly raging across the country.
Considering the scale of these events, the reaction has been utterly underwhelming
It’s obviously something of a politico-religious week, as the federal government is hosting two summits, on two consecutive days this week, on combating anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Needless to say, the prime minister will be present at both. I don’t suppose anyone will draw objections to such meetings, or their intention of removing, or at least reducing, discrimination against either of these two religions.
While progressives tweeted, churches serving indigenous communities burned
It’s strange that Canada, one of the most privileged countries in the world, is home to people who repeatedly insist that it is the worst. This month, in a classic move, activists commemorated Canada Day by trying to cancel it. The trigger was the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves on sites that had been church-run schools for indigenous children. There was no mention of the fact that celebration and consideration are not mutually exclusive.
The Canadian Red Cross, which is supporting the evacuations, tells Global News more than 1,000 people from Pauingassi First Nation, Little Grand Rapids First Nation, Bloodvein First Nation and Berens River First Nation have been sent to Winnipeg as of Tuesday morning.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that he would support a criminal investigation into the recent discovery of hundreds of unmarked burial sites at residential schools across Canada amid growing pressure on the government from the Indigenous communities.
