EDMONTON — Firefighters were called to a burning Catholic church north of Edmonton around 3 a.m. on Wednesday.
As of 6 a.m., crews were still on scene extinguishing hot spots at St. Jean Baptiste Parish, but the Roman Catholic church on Morinville’s Main Street had been badly damaged and fire departments from neighbouring communities had been called in to help.
If there is any fault in the Kamloops school affair, it lies with federal Indian Affairs which did not provide adequate funding for the residential schools, the children, and the cemeteries.
National Indigenous leaders will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican in December to press for a papal apology for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in residential schools, according to two people close to the discussions.
Delegations of First Nations, Métis and Inuit will meet with the Pope separately between December 17 and December 20, according to two officials close to the negotiations who are not authorized to speak publicly at this time.
GITWANGAK, B.C. — The Mounties say they are investigating a suspicious fire at an abandoned church in northwestern British Columbia.
New Hazelton RCMP say the fire was reported early Saturday morning on the Gitwangak First Nation and was quickly extinguished with minimal damage and no injuries.
World-renowned Cree playwright Tomson Highway testified to having had good experiences at one such school.
Probably going to get a social media ban for this.
Ottawa is fielding more than 100 requests for financial assistance from Indigenous communities intent on launching searches for unmarked graves, a volume of demand certain to deplete government funding commitments and stretch the availability of archeological expertise in the country, according to Indigenous leaders and academics.
The federal government said earlier this month it would distribute $27-million for First Nations to locate, identify and commemorate Indigenous children buried in undocumented sites of former residential schools.
It’s not exactly reassuring that the powerful display on Pacific Northwest aboriginal culture at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., is something you would probably never see in a British Columbian museum.
For those who accuse Canada of being a racist country as we approach our 154th birthday on Thursday, a racist country would not be spending $24.5 billion this year alone to improve the lives of Canada’s First Nations, Metis and Inuit people.
That should be more than enough money to deliver clean water to all Indigenous reserves.
Worthwhile editorial from the Sun. It’s not a secret about where the money goes and its been said many times before. I can’t understand why reform hasn’t happened.
OTTAWA — Canada’s minister of northern affairs says the religious leaders who operated the residential school system in Canada should be held accountable for any crimes committed.
“Of course they need to be charged. This is the sort of thing you read about in another country, you don’t read about this in Canada, but if people are still alive, then we need to do all things necessary to achieve justice, of course we need to bring charges forward,” said Dan Vandal in an interview on CTV’s Question Period airing Sunday.
Two more Catholic churches have burned in B.C.’s Southern Interior.
Chief of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band, Keith Crow, confirmed to Global News on Saturday morning that a church in the community of Hedley burned, as did one in the border community of Chopaka.
Hedley is about an hour’s drive southwest of Penticton, while Chopaka is about a half-hour west of Osoyoos.
That’s 4 churches now, at least one other has been vandalized. I wonder if Justin will speak out against these acts of domestic terrorism?
The Catholic religious order that operated residential schools in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, where hundreds of nameless graves have been found, says it will reveal all the historical documents in its possession.
The Missionary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate operated 48 schools, including the Marieval Indian Residential School at Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan and the Kamloops Indian Residential School in BC.
“We deeply regret our involvement in residential schools and the damage they have caused to indigenous peoples and communities,” said a statement.
China repeatedly lectured Canada on human rights this week following a Saskatchewan band’s claim to have discovered hundreds of unmarked graves near a former residential school.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian accused Canada of continuing to carry out “racial discrimination” against Indigenous people.
The Catholic religious order that operated residential schools in Saskatchewan and British Columbia where hundreds of unmarked graves have been found says it will disclose all historical documents in its possession.
The Missionary of Oblates of Mary Immaculate operated 48 schools, including the Marieval Indian Residential School at Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan and the Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C.
Trudeau apologizes (Again) for residential schools after Sask. discovery
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is apologizing for the “incredibly harmful” government policies after an estimated 751 unmarked graves were found at a former Saskatchewan residential school site.
The discovery came just weeks after 215 unmarked burial sites were found at another former residential school site in Kamloops, sending shockwaves through the country and prompting renewed calls for action.
More to come and all of it ‘encouraged’ by media and our government… Saskatoon Catholic cathedral covered with paint after discovery of 751 unmarked graves
Recent accounts of 215 indigenous children buried and forgotten in a cemetery on a residential school grounds in Kamloops are shocking. According to these accounts the cemetery was described as a mass grave (the term usually describing war crimes and massacres) of children who were neglected, abused and abandoned in the residential schools and buried in the cemetery to hide their deaths.
However, the report of Dr. Scott Hamilton, Anthropology Department at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, who was retained by the National Centre Truth and Reconciliation to address this question, provides a different record.
Dr Hamilton’s report can be found at: https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AAA-Hamilton-cemetery-FInal.pdf
Dr. Hamilton’s report, based on available documentation, indicates that at least 3,213 children were reported to have died in residential school over a period of approximately 100 years.
h/t SMC
Recently, some cities in British Columbia have cancelled Canada Day celebrations, such as Penticton and Victoria BC. Mayor of Penticton John Vassilaki said that when he heard about the discovery of remains in Kamloops of 215 children, he “thought it was appropriate to hold back and wait to see what the federal government was going to announce.”
They’re called the Liberal party, the very demographic O’Toole has been courting.
Federal 🇨🇦 voting intentions from Abacus Data:
LPC 37%
CPC 27%
NDP 18%
BQ 9% (39% in Qc)
GPC 5%Details and regionals: https://t.co/TWM0LTiNKu
[Abacus Data, June 18-21, 2021, n=2,070]#canpoli pic.twitter.com/VCdzEJvI13
— Philippe J. Fournier (@338Canada) June 24, 2021
