Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet confirmed this week that more than 400 churches across Canada have been burned, vandalised or otherwise targeted since 2015. Lifesite News reports the vandalism comes after controversial claims about unmarked graves at former Indian Residential School sites. The cabinet’s report, released on 19 September, attributes a significant rise in these Read more
Almost three years ago, reports of underground anomalies near a former Kamloops residential school caused a firestorm of media mistruths about mass graves, which became a focus of Pope Francis’ visit to Canada in 2022. Now, the Catholic Church and the Kamloops First Nation are to acknowledge historical and recent painful experiences and continue “walking Read more
Recent excavations at suspected mass grave sites of Indigenous children at Canadian residential schools have failed to uncover any human remains. Some academics and politicians say this development has raised doubts about the veracity of claims surrounding these alleged graves. Minegoziibe Anishinabe, also known as Pine Creek First Nation, conducted excavations at Our Lady of Read more
A foundation that provides university scholarships to indigenous students across Canada has severed its ties with a group of Victoria-based Catholic nuns by returning a $500,000 donation. The Verna J. Kirkness Education Foundation announced this week that it had decided to give back the endowment, received in December 2017, to the Sisters of St Ann, Read more
Academics are calling into question the mass grave story surrounding the Kamloops residential school in Canada, according to the NY Times. One year ago, the leaders of the British Columbia First Nation Band Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc announced the discovery of a mass grave of more than 200 indigenous children detected at a residential school in Read more
A professor of theology at a university in Canada has labelled an indigenous group’s upcoming meeting with Pope Francis a ‘moment of crisis’ for Canadian catholics. “It’s a moment of crisis – existential crisis – for catholics in the pews,” said Darren Dias, a theology professor at the University of St Michael’s College in Toronto. Read more
Chief Rosanne Casimir of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in Canada’s westernmost province of British Columbia has called for the release of documents regarding the former Church-run residential schools as a precondition to a meaningful papal apology when the pope visits Canada. Pope Francis has recently indicated his willingness to visit Canada on a pilgrimage Read more
The discovery of potentially hundreds of unmarked graves near former residential schools in B.C. and Saskatchewan has prompted calls for the Catholic Church, which ran dozens of the institutions across the country, to release its records. Last week, the Cowessess First Nation announced the preliminary discovery of 751 unmarked graves at the former Marieval Indian Residential School. Read more
Bishops of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan called for justice and “repentance” after hundreds of unmarked graves were discovered at a former Catholic-run residential school. “We offer our condolences, but we know that this is not enough, and our words must move to concrete action,” the bishops said in a joint statement. Leaders of a Read more
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is trying to whitewash the Canadian government’s role in the deadly operation of residential schools by deflecting blame to the Roman Catholic Church, said Most Rev. Fred Henry, bishop emeritus of the Calgary diocese. In an open letter to the prime minister, Henry, who presided over southern Alberta Catholics from 1998 Read more