After Pope's apology, 'now the hard work starts,' says former AFN national chief Phil Fontaine
CBC Radio | Posted: April 1, 2022 5:44 PM | Last Updated: April 1, 2022
Some critics say Pope Francis's apology for 'deplorable' abuses at residential schools did not go far enough
WARNING: This story contains distressing details
Pope Francis's apology to Indigenous delegates in Rome is by no means the end of the work to help survivors, says Phil Fontaine, former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
"We never, ever believed that the apology was the final moment in this long, tragic story about residential schools," he told The Current's Matt Galloway.
"Now the hard work starts."
The Pope has been meeting with Indigenous delegations at the Vatican all week to discuss the impact of Canada's residential school system. On Friday, during a final public audience, he spoke of "sorrow and shame" for the actions of some members of the Catholic Church in the institutions.
WATCH | Pope Francis apologizes to Indigenous delegates
More than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were forced to attend residential schools between the 1870s and 1990s, a project of church and government established to "take the Indian out of the child." The TRC's final 2015 report described the system as "cultural genocide."
"For the deplorable conduct of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God's forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart, I am very sorry. And I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in asking your pardon," the Pope said Friday.
Fontaine said he wasn't expecting to hear an apology at the Vatican, but thought it would come when the Pope visits Canada. The Pope said that he hopes to come here "in the days" around the church's Feast of St. Anne, which falls on July 26.
When that time comes, Fontaine hopes the pontiff "will expand on those words that he spoke today."
The former chief thinks the apology is an opportunity for Indigenous communities "to engage with the Catholic Church and others, to begin anew this relationship that has been so completely shattered."
The Vatican also has to be willing "to fashion a new kind of institution that speaks more positively about the cultural differences that exist between our people and the Church," he said.
While he said financial compensation is only one part of the wider issue, he pointed to fundraising efforts from Canadian bishops, to raise $30 million over five years. (Critics have said that time frame is too long, and called on the Vatican to provide compensation from its own assets.)
Fontaine also said the return of artifacts and the establishment of a museum could be explored.
"The Vatican here has thousands of Indigenous objects, sacred items ... and so repatriation will become a large part of the ongoing conversations," he said.
Fontaine said the Pope's acknowledgement will also be an important step in allowing survivors to move forward.
"In my view, it will allow many, many people to say 'I forgive,'" he said.
He said he understands that will be a hard thing to do, but he said it's not impossible.
"That's upon our shoulders now, but we have the, I think, the words that will enable us to move in that direction," he said.
'Not an apology'
The Pope has issued other apologies in recent years. In 2015, he apologized to Bolivian Indigenous groups and activists for the Catholic Church's crimes against Indigenous peoples during the colonial-era conquest of the Americas.
Tania Ayma, an Indigenous journalist in Bolivia, told The Current that the apology didn't change much.
"The Church continues to have a strong presence on many levels in social projects, through the government, through NGOs and also through Indigenous organizations," she said.
"Nothing's changed for better or for worse."
On a trip to Ireland in 2018, Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the children taken by the Church in the country's mother and baby homes.
Colm O'Gorman, a survivor of abuse perpetrated by a church leader in Ireland, said the Pope's statement in Rome today was "not an apology, it was an expression of sorrow."
"I don't doubt that he's being honest when he talks about his sorrow, but he talks about the sorrow at the conduct of some members of the Church," said O'Gorman, who is also executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, but spoke to The Current in a personal capacity.
"It's not for a pope to apologize as Pope for the actions of others, it's for a pope to apologize for the actions of the institution that he represents, and that has not happened anywhere in the world," he said.
O'Gorman said the Vatican is responsible for "a system which colluded with, which facilitated, which covered up and which denied" evidence of abuse, "in order simply to protect itself, its power, its authority, and its money."
What must follow that is "an acknowledgement of wrongdoing on one's own part, or behalf of the institution one represents, and a genuine effort to demonstrate that one is prepared to be accountable," he said.
O'Gorman said he didn't want his criticism to diminish what the Pope's words mean for Indigenous communities in Canada.
Those communities have shown "not just extraordinary resilience, but dignity and courage and humanity" in confronting "the abuse and violations that they experienced and suffered over so many decades and so many generations," he said.
Support is available for anyone affected by their experience at residential schools or by the latest reports.
A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former students and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419
Written by Padraig Moran. Produced by Ines Colabrese, Joana Draghici and Samira Mohyeddin.