ROTHENBURGER: With Pope’s apology in hand, ‘now the hard work begins’

This humble man, with his unequivocal acknowledgement of the “deplorable conduct” of church members who ran residential schools, has created an undeniable turning point in what is perhaps the saddest chapter — an ongoing one — in Canada’s history.

“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.”

It doesn’t get clearer than that. No parsing, no dancing around it. Just a plain, unvarnished apology.

With his words yesterday, he’s created a path toward the healing that so many Canadians — indigenous and non-indigenous — have been asking and hoping for.

As could be expected, it’s being called a first step rather than an ending, and there will be many opinions on the details of how to proceed from here but certain things are more obvious than others.

The church itself must follow up on the pope’s words with some concrete actions. For example, the return of indigenous artifacts would be a significant gesture. Providing access by researchers to the Vatican’s archives so they can shed more light on residential schools is another key step.

And then there’s the money. The church is said to owe survivors more than $60 million from the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement of 2006. The Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops is in the midst of a new $30-million fundraising campaign.

Let’s not forget residential schools were built by the Canadian government. The Catholic and Anglican churches were, in effect, the contractors who ran them. All aspects of Canadian society have a role to play in what happens now. That includes the media, which need to shed biases and assumptions and lead responsibly, including on the issue of findings from ground-penetrating radar searches at the residential schools.

Thankfully, initial media stories of “mass graves” have been refuted and corrected but are still repeated in international media. Canadian reporters are becoming more diligent but still confuse their audiences with inconsistencies, one day talking about “the discovery of thousands of unmarked graves” and the next day referring to “potential unmarked graves.”

In fact, at least 933 gravesites initially reported by the media as “unmarked” were soon found to have once been marked after all. The markers had simply deteriorated or been removed. And, a good number of the graves are adults, and non-indigenous. But it’s much easier to find news accounts sticking with the original headlines than the corrections and clarifications provided by Indigenous leaders.

First Nations have a big enough challenge on their hands without the over-sensationalizing by traditional media. The truth is sensational enough.

Even at Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc, independent research has found that none of the 51 Kamloops residential school kids listed in the Truth and Reconciliation report as having died while attending the school was buried there. That’s important news but it’s hard to find mention of it in the media.

The fact so many confirmed or potential burials across the country took place within known cemeteries — unlike the TteS research — makes no difference to the importance of the work. In Brandon, for example, there are 104 graves in three cemeteries and 78 are accountable through records but even one unmemorialized child is one too many. Scientists doing the research emphasize the only way to prove with certainty that their findings are actual gravesites is through exhumation. That isn’t necessary where known cemeteries are involved and records are available. At the Marieval Residential School in Saskatchewan, those interred in several hundred gravesites have been identified.

But there are dozens of other residential schools that remain to be searched, involving hundreds of acres. Among those that have been partially searched is the Kamloops school, where the count so far stands at 215.

After confirmation that suspected sites do, indeed, contain the remains of children, analysis of records will, hopefully, be able to give names to those who died, and determine why they died, and why they weren’t returned to their families.

It’s a daunting task that will take many more years and many millions of dollars, and involves much more than unmarked graves.

Whatever the ultimate result of the search for unmarked graves across the country, the terrible legacy of residential schools — the attempt to tear away a culture, the abuses committed within their walls — remains undeniable and awaits much more investigation.

As TteS Chief Rosanne Casimir has said, “We are not here for retaliation. We are here for truth telling.”

And as former Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine said yesterday, “Now the hard work begins.”

The Pope’s gracious apology yesterday, and his pledge to come to Canada to meet with survivors, have made that beginning possible.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

by Mel Rothenburger

ROTHENBURGER: With Pope’s apology in hand, ‘now the hard work begins’

Our Community