For decades, trauma lingered in the indigenous community of Maskwacis. But some hope to close it down during Pope Francis’ visit to apologize for the paper of the Catholic Church during a century of abuse in Canada.
the pontiff, arriving next Sunday in Canadawill stop in this community of 19,000 people, about 100 kilometers north of Edmonton, Alberta, on Monday to visit one of the church-run state boarding schools where indigenous children were forcibly interned.
Many of those children who survived the abuse still live in towns like Maskwacis where indigenous people from four different nations reside.
“Some will hear things that will help them move forward in life”, said Randy Ermineskin, head of the Maskwacis Crie community, From the late 19th century through the 1990s, some 150,000 Inuit, Mestizo, or First Peoples (Dene, Mohawk, Ojibway, Crie, Algonquin, etc.) were forcibly admitted to 139 boarding schools across the country. Cut off from their families, their language and their culture, they often suffered abuse of all kinds.
“The pope’s apologies will have great consequences,” said Wilton Littlechild, who spent 14 years in several such centers.
A tribute monument in Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada. AFP photo
To heal wounds
These asylums mark an essential stage, estimates this lawyer who has always militated in favor of dialogue between Canadians and the native peoples of the country.
“After an apology, people can begin to heal their wounds and come to the conclusion – at least for some – that finally there is some justice, and then we can talk about reconciliationLittlechild, 78, told AFP.
Even today, the indigenous population, which represents almost 5% of Canada’s, lives in poverty while racism endures.
Relations between the Canadian state and indigenous peoples, known as “First Nations”, continue to be governed by an 1876 law that created hundreds of indigenous reserves in the country.
“Stop”, in two languages in the Maskwacis reserve. AFP Photo
In Maskwacis, a plaque commemorates the Ermineskin boarding school, opened in 1894 and now destroyed. Before closing in 1976, it was one of the largest of 139 state schools run by the Catholic Church across Canada, which some 150,000 indigenous, Inuit and Métis children were forced to attend. as part of a failed assimilation policy.
The students they were cut off from their families, their language and their culture. Many suffered physical and sexual abuse from teachers and principals. Thousands are believed to have died of disease, neglect and malnutrition.
Canada has been dealing with this past for years. But the discovery in recent months of the remains of hundreds of indigenous children buried in unmarked graves at the school sites marked in the national conscience the reality of how the State and the Catholic Church made them suffer.
Around the Maskwacis school, in the deserted streets of a housing estate, stray dogs prowl among abandoned tricycles and mattresses on the sidewalks, in front of houses riddled with graffiti or burned.
“We need a blessing, especially for young people. It’s hard here… There are many gangs and drugssays Connie Roan, who lives near one of the houses with charred roofs.
alcohol and drugs
In front of her garden, this 67-year-old grandmother hopes that the pope “brings a change to the community.”
Alcoholism and high suicide rates punish those aboriginal communities traumatized by boarding schools and assimilation policy, which has been recognized as “cultural genocide” by the Canadian state.
“I hope and pray for the pope to come, because everyone needs him. Not just us, but all of Canada,” said Gilda Soosay, a 50-year-old Catholic who works for youth at an addiction center in the area.
Head of the parish and with a rosary around her neck, Soosay says that this visit is a “miracle” that “will help heal people.”
In a park, Seanna Fryingpan, 22, is “excited” by this “once-in-a-lifetime” visit.
However, for this young mother, the “recognition” of the responsibility of the Church, “It won’t change what happened.”
Brian Lee, 68, goes further. He says that in this system he learned “to hate his own people” and was told that his “tongue was that of the devil.” He would like Francisco support the learning of languages that are disappearing slowly.
“I believe that if everyone, from children to the elderly, spoke our language again, our community would be better off,” he reflects.
AFP agency
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