Actions and Commitments:
Exploring Stakeholder: "Catholic Church"
Updates on this page: 43
March 28, 2024
Tk’emlúps to sign reconciliation covenant with Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver
Archbishop to visit Kamloops Sunday for private ceremony Some of the artwork memorializing potential unmarked graves discovered in Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation. Photo: APTN file APTN News: The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc band and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver have reached an agreement over access to Indian residential school records and archives. Both parties will sign...
July 24, 2023
A year after Pope’s visit, reconciliation taking shape
Archbishop of Regina says papal apology was important, but the process will be ‘a long journey’ Toronto Star: Phil Fontaine has had a year to reflect since he heard an apology from the head of the Roman Catholic Church, something the former Assembly of First Nations national chief fought much of his life to have...
June 7, 2023
Archdiocese of Edmonton donates $3.2M to Indigenous reconciliation efforts
Click on the following link to view the above video: NationTalk: GlobalNews – The Archdiocese of Edmonton announced Wednesday it will be donating $3.2 million to the national Indigenous Reconciliation Fund to support healing and recognition of Indigenous peoples. The Catholic Bishops of Canada committed to raising $30 million over five years across local dioceses. The funds...
March 30, 2023
‘A very emotional day’: Pope Francis grants Indigenous Canadians’ request, denouncing doctrine blamed for colonialism
Indigenous leader hails Thursday’s statement as ‘a very emotional day for me.’ CBC News: He came to Canada on a pilgrimage of penance to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in running the Indian residential school system. But during a mass led by Pope Francis in Quebec City last summer, Indigenous protesters demanded he take his...
March 30, 2023
Catholic Church repudiates some concepts used to justify oppression of Indigenous people
Documents had been ‘manipulated’ for political purposes by colonial powers, said Vatican CBC News: The Vatican on Thursday formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, the theories backed by 15th-century papal bulls that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Indigenous lands and form the basis of some property law today. A Vatican statement said the 15th-century papal bulls, or decrees,...
September 29, 2022
Bishop of Canada deepen their commitments to walk together with Indigenous partners on the healing and reconciliation Journey
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), gathered in Plenary Assembly this week, agreed upon a series of next steps related to the painful legacy of residential schools. This work builds on previous commitments to promote access to records, educate clergy on Indigenous cultures and spirituality, and contribute $30 million to healing and reconciliation initiatives...
July 30, 2022
Pope says Indigenous people suffered genocide at residential schools
Toronto Star: ROME – Pope Francis says the abuses Indigenous Peoples faced while being forced to attend residential schools amounted to genocide. The pontiff made the comment Friday to reporters on his flight from Iqaluit back to Rome following his six-day tour of Canada. Francis apologized multiple times throughout the week for the role the...
July 29, 2022
‘I want to tell you how very sorry I am’: Pope’s Iqaluit speech hews close to earlier apology
Pope Francis refers to ‘evil perpetrated by not a few Catholics’ involved in residential school system Paul Tukker · CBC News · Posted: Jul 29, 2022 6:29 PM CT | Last Updated: July 29 Pope Francis offered another apology on Friday, this time to Inuit survivors of residential schools, as he wrapped up his five-day Canadian visit with a brief stop...
July 27, 2022
Address of Pope Francis at the Citadelle de Québec
APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCISto CANADA(24 – 30 JULY 2022) MEETING WITH CIVIL AUTHORITIES, REPRESENTATIVES OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND MEMBERS OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS “Citadelle de Québec”Wednesday, 27 July 2022 [Multimedia] ___________________________________ Madam Governor General,Mr Prime Minister,Distinguished Civil and Religious Authorities,Dear Representatives of the Indigenous Peoples,Honourable Members of the Diplomatic...
July 27, 2022
Canada’s bishops want Vatican to issue new statement on Doctrine of Discovery
Many Indigenous people hoped Pope Francis would renounce the policy, which has been used to justify colonizing lands considered to be ‘uninhabited’ National Post: (Canadian Press) OTTAWA — Canada’s bishops are working with the Vatican in the hope of issuing a new statement from the Catholic Church on the Doctrine of Discovery, the organizers of...
July 27, 2022
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops want Vatican to issue new statement on the Doctrine of Discovery
Many Indigenous people hoped Pope Francis would renounce the policy, which has been used to justify colonizing lands considered to be ‘uninhabited’ National Post: (Canadian Press) OTTAWA — Canada’s bishops are working with the Vatican in the hope of issuing a new statement from the Catholic Church on the Doctrine of Discovery, the organizers of...
July 26, 2022
Inuit Planning And Preparations Set The Stage For Warm Welcome Of Pope Francis To Inuit Homeland
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, together with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, Makivik Corporation and the Nunatsiavut Government, are coordinating efforts for Inuit participation in the Papal Visit to Canada. This has focused on preparations for a visit by Pope Francis to Iqaluit this week, but it also included work to ensure that Inuit survivors are able to witness...
July 25, 2022
Métis Nation–Saskatchewan Representatives and Delegation to Join in Events with the Vatican in Edmonton, Maskwacis, and Lac Ste. Anne
NationTalk: The Métis Nation–Saskatchewan welcomes Pope Francis to Canada and hopes this trip will represent another step forward on the shared path of reconciliation for Métis Survivors of the residential school system. For the MN–S, the arrival of the Pope on Canadian soil represents another chance for the world to learn the history of residential...
July 25, 2022
Nishnawbe Ask Nation Survivors to Attend Events in Edmonton, Quebec City during Papal Visit this Week
NationTalk: EDMONTON, AB: Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Deputy Grand Chief Anna Betty Achneepineskum will accompany delegations of Indian Residential School Survivors during the Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Pope Francis to Canada this week. “Survivors and the families of those we have lost through the Residential School system will face a wide range of emotions...
July 25, 2022
The AFNQL asks that the Catholic Church, as an institution represented by Pope Francis, make an official apology while on their ancestral territories
NationTalk: WENDAKE, QC – As the visit of Pope Francis to Canada begins, the Assembly of First Nations Québec-Labrador (AFNQL) is questioning the intentions of Bishop Raymond Poisson, President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), who told the Le Devoir on July 23, 2022, that “the apology has already been made [at the...
July 25, 2022
Full Text of Pope Francis apology to residential school survivors
“In the face of this deplorable evil, the church kneels before God and implores his forgiveness for the sins of her children.” Pope Francis INDIGENOUS WATCHDOG COMMENT: Not exactly an apology from the Catholic Church as an institution for its role in the operations of the Indian Residential Schools in Canada. This is again an...
July 23, 2022
Pope Francis Schedule for visit to Canada
The Papal Visit to Canada secretariat has been created by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the national assembly of the Bishops of Canada. It was founded in 1943 and officially recognized by the Holy See in 1948. The Papal Visit team is working closely with numerous partners including the Vatican, Indigenous Elders, knowledge keepers...
June 24, 2022
Pope Francis to vist residential school
Toronto Star – The program for Pope Francis’s trip to Canada next month includes a visit to the site of a former Alberta residential school with survivors, the Vatican said Thursday. The papal visit is set to start in Edmonton on July 24 and end in Iqaluit on July 29. It is to include public...
May 13, 2022
Pope Francis visit to Edmonton, Québec City and Iqaluit confirmed for July 24-30
Globe and Mail: Pope Francis will visit Canada in July in a cross-country tour that will take in Quebec City, Edmonton and Iqaluit, the Vatican confirmed Friday, in a trip intended to address the Catholic Church’s harmful legacy of running the majority of the country’s residential schools. The visit will take place from July 24...
April 15, 2022
Pope Francis likely to visit Edmonton, Québec City and Iqaluit
Pope Francis is expected to visit at least three cities during a late July trip to Canada, CBC News has learned. Sources involved in the planning of the trip say the Pope will likely make stops in Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit during what is scheduled to be about a four-day trip to the country....
April 1, 2022
‘I am sorry’: Pope Francis apologizes for role Catholics played in residential school abuses
APTN – During their last in-person meeting with Pope Francis, First Nations, Inuit and Métis members of the delegation to Vatican City heard the words they were seeking, “I am sorry.” In the hour-long meeting before the delegation returns home to cities and communities across Canada, Pope Francis, reading from prepared notes, reviewed what he...
February 1, 2022
Indigenous delegation to meet Pope Francis the week of March 28, 2022
Pope Francis is now scheduled to meet with individual Indigenous delegations the week of March 28, 2022. A final audience with all participants will take place on Friday, April 1, 2022....
January 20, 2022
Release of Residential School narratives
Jan. 20, 2022: CBC – The government said it did not release the documents earlier because of third-party obligations to Catholic entities, including the Sisters of St. Ann, Sisters of Charity of Providence of Western Canada, Sisters of the Presentation and La Corporation Episcopale Catholique Romaine De Prince Albert. The 11 narratives being released to the...
January 17, 2022
Kamloops Residential School
Jan. 17, 2022: CBC – The leadership of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc hopes to identify and locate missing children believed to be buried in unmarked graves. The federal government plans to transfer more than 875,000 records through a recently signed agreement with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), the archival repository for all of the material collected by the...
December 7, 2021
Trip to Rome postponed due to COVID
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops along with the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council and the Inuit Tapariit Kanatami announce that the trip to Rome has been postponed due to COVID-19 and will be rescheduled to the earliest opportunity in 2022....
October 27, 2021
Pope Francis agrees to make an “apostolic journey to Canada”
CBC – The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that Pope Francis had accepted their invitation to make “an apostolic journey to Canada “also in the context of the long-standing pastoral process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.” Rev. Raymond Poisson, CCCB president. “We pray that Pope Francis’ visit to Canada will be a significant milestone...
October 18, 2021
Kamloops IRS
Oct. 18, 2021: Globe and Mail – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was publicly reprimanded by the chief of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation after a ceremony in which he paid his first respects to missing children believed to be buried at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Ms. Casimir said the First Nation had sent two...
September 24, 2021
Statement of Apology by the Catholic Bishops of Canada to the Indigenous Peoples of This Land
We, the Catholic Bishops of Canada, gathered in Plenary this week, take this opportunity to affirm to you, the Indigenous Peoples of this land, that we acknowledge the suffering experienced in Canada’s Indian Residential Schools. Many Catholic religious communities and dioceses participated in this system, which led to the suppression of Indigenous languages, culture and...
July 1, 2021
Pope Francis agrees to meet Indigenous residential school survivors
The Guardian – Pope Francis has agreed to meet Indigenous survivors of Canada’s notorious residential schools in December, amid calls for a papal apology for the Catholic church’s role in the abuse and deaths of thousands of children. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) said Francis had invited delegations to the Vatican and would...
July 1, 2021
Pope Francis invites Indigenous delegation to the Vatican
The Guardian – Pope Francis has agreed to meet Indigenous survivors of Canada’s notorious residential schools in December, amid calls for a papal apology for the Catholic church’s role in the abuse and deaths of thousands of children. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) said Francis had invited delegations to the Vatican and would meet three groups...
June 6, 2021
Pope Francis still refuses to apologize
NPR – In prepared remarks delivered from St. Peter’s, a little over a week after the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children in unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, Pope Francis “expressed sorrow but never explicitly apologized for the church’s role in the forced re-education of more...
June 6, 2021
Pope Francis expresses “sorrow” but not an apology after discovery of unmarked graves at Kamloops residential school
NPR – In prepared remarks delivered from St. Peter’s, a little over a week after the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children in unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, Pope Francis “expressed sorrow but never explicitly apologized for the church’s role in the forced re-education of more than...
April 26, 2018
Catholic Church denies accountability for residential school abuses
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops – has claimed in recent weeks, in defence of a statement that Pope Francis could not “personally respond” to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s request for an apology for residential schools, that the Catholic Church itself could not be blamed for the abuses committed at the institutions. The conference says...
April 26, 2018
Catholic Church states that the Church itself could not be blamed for the residential schools
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has claimed in recent weeks, in defence of a statement that Pope Francis could not “personally respond” to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s request for an apology for residential schools, that the Catholic Church itself could not be blamed for the abuses committed at the institutions. The conference says...
March 27, 2018
Indigenous clergyman to represent Canada at Anglophone Safeguarding Conference
Deacon Rennie Nahanee, a Squamish First Nation Deacon and the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s co-ordinator of First Nations ministry, is one of two people chosen to represent Canadian clergy at a conference in June. Nahanee, a Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCAB) adviser on relations with Indigenous people, is representing Canada along with Bishop Mark Hagemoen...
March 27, 2018
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops states that Pope Francis cannot personally apologize
A letter released Tuesday by the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops says Pope Francis has not shied away from recognizing injustices faced by Indigenous peoples around the world, but that he can’t personally apologize for residential schools. “As far as Call to Action #58 is concerned, after carefully considering the request and...
May 10, 2017
Catholic proposal about identifying, documenting, commemorating and protecting residential school cemeteries
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) CCCB in consultation with the Canadian Catholic Aboriginal Council and Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle, is proposing that Catholic dioceses/eparchies, parishes, missions and organizations offer assistance on identifying, documenting, commemorating and protecting residential school cemeteries and related burial sites. Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle is the recently established...
March 31, 2016
Catholic Organizations
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops Canadian Religious Conference Canadian Catholic Aboriginal Council Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace “Walking Forward Together, the Catholic Response to Call to Action 48 of the TRC (On Adopting and Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples)” recognizes the following recommendations from the Commission for Justice...
March 31, 2016
Canadian Catholic Entities: “Walking Forward Together”
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), Canadian Religious Conference (CRC), Canadian Catholic Aboriginal Council Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace A Catholic Response to Call to Action 48 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Recommendations by the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops “Walking Forward Together” Introduction: The United...
March 31, 2016
Catholic Entities commitment to UNDRIP
Catholic Bishops, institutes of consecrated life, societies of apostolic life and other Catholic organizations in Canada support this Declaration and believe that its spirit can point a way forward to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada, including: Respecting Indigenous Spiritual Practices Publicly supporting The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples...
June 2, 2015
Anglican Church of Canada, Presbyterian Church in Canada, United Church of Canada, Catholic Entities and Jesuits of English Canada
“Response of the Churches to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada” states: As individual churches and in shared interfaith and ecumenical initiatives – for example through Kairos, through interfaith groups, and through the Canadian Council of Churches – we will continue to foster learning about and awareness of the reality and legacy of the residential...
June 2, 2015
Church Parties welcome the Covenant of Reconciliation
The Church Parties are: The Anglican Church of Canada, The Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Roman Catholic Entities Parties to the Settlement Agreement, The United Church of Canada and the Jesuits of English Canada The Church Parties to the Settlement Agreement welcome the Commissioners’ call to the parties to the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement for...
June 2, 2015
Response of the Churches to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada, The Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Roman Catholic Entities Parties to the Settlement Agreement, The United Church of Canada and the Jesuits of English Canada make the following statement in response to the findings and Calls to Action issued by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. It is with gratitude and humility that we...