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CANADA
Apology to natives
Churches ask forgiveness
The leaders of four Christian churches in Canada have apologized to native tribes in Newfoundland and Labrador for suffering they endured from Christians.
Archbishop James McDonald of St. John’s told a gathering of about 150 people, “We ask your forgiveness” for abuses suffered “since the arrival of our ancestors 500 years ago.” He was joined in the apology by Anglican, United, and Presbyterian church leaders.
The event was organized by Sister Emma Rooney and held in a converted elementary school. Representatives of the Labrador Inuit Association, the Innu Nation, the Conne River Mi’qmaq band, and the Labrador Metis Association had been invited to attend, but the crowd who gathered was almost all white, and there appeared to be no further action contemplated beyond the reading of the statement, which was quickly criticized by some of those present.
Before the reading, a native chief, Misel Joe, said he was unsure “if anybody knows what they are apologizing for.”
Canadian natives have filed lawsuits worth billions of dollars against several churches, alleging physical and sexual abuse of native children who attended church-run residential schools. But most were in central and western Canada, not in the Atlantic province of Newfoundland.
Back to Catholic World Report October 2000 Table of Contents