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'I humbly beg forgiveness': Pope to Canada's
Survivors of Residential Schools
'I humbly beg forgiveness': Pope dons Indian feather headdress and apologizes for Church's role in Canada's residential schools where THOUSANDS of indigenous children were abused and died
Pope Francis issued an apology Monday for the Catholic Church's cooperation with Canada's 'catastrophic' policy of Indigenous residential schools
He said the forced assimilation of Native peoples into Christian society destroyed their cultures, severed families and marginalized generations
'I am deeply sorry,' Francis said to school survivors and Indigenous community members gathered at a former residential school south of Edmonton, Alberta
He called the school policy a 'disastrous error' that was incompatible with the Gospel and said further investigation and healing is needed
Ottawa has admitted that physical and sexual abuse was rampant at the schools, with students beaten for speaking their native languages.
That legacy of that abuse and isolation from family has been cited by Indigenous leaders as a root cause of the epidemic rates of alcohol and drug addiction now on Canadian reservations.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 00:09 EDT, 25 July 2022 | UPDATED: 17:26 EDT, 25 July 2022
Please go to The Daily Mail for the full story.
Canada asked France to extradite priest facing sexual assault charge
in Nunavut
Johannes Rivoire spent time in Nunavut in the 1960s and returned to France in 1993
Stephanie Taylor · The Canadian Press ·
Posted: Jul 28, 2022 8:00 AM CT | Last Updated: July 29
Father Johannes Rivoire in Arviat in 1979. He has been accused of crimes against children in Nunavut.
(Library and Archives Canada)
Ottawa has asked France to extradite a priest accused of crimes against children in Nunavut, the federal justice minister confirmed Wednesday as Pope Francis continued his tour of Canada.
"Collaboration and co-operation are essential to addressing the shameful legacy of residential schools," Justice Minister David Lametti said in a written statement.
"We are working with Indigenous Peoples to advance the important work of reconciliation in Canada," he said, adding that "serious crimes [will] be fully investigated and prosecuted."
A spokesman for the Justice Department said the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) made the extradition request for Johannes Rivoire, but did not say when and provided no more details.
In an emailed statement on Friday, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Notre Dame du Cap Province and Lacombe Province, said it's "encouraged" that Canada has made the request for extradition.
"Clergy sexual abuse is a tragedy, and we are deeply sorry to any survivors who have been harmed by Oblates or other Catholic priests," the statement reads.
"The Oblates proactively reached out to Minister of Justice and Attorney General, David Lametti, on March 22 expressing our availability to cooperate in a legal investigation and remain committed to doing so."
It also says the Oblates expressed their support for Inuit and to Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed, and that the group is "fully committed" to support survivors of abuse or the families of victims.
"We continue to advocate amongst peers and superiors in the church to ensure leadership in France and the Vatican understand the impact that Rivoire continues to have on Canada's Inuit Peoples," the statement reads.
"While we cannot undo the harms that persist following sexual abuse, we hope that these efforts can help the Inuit Peoples find the healing they have long sought."
Pope Francis is expected to travel to Nunavut this week as part of his visit to Canada.
Inuit leaders have called on the pontiff to personally intervene in the case of Rivoire, who was in Canada from the early 1960s until 1993, when he returned to France.
Former Nunavut MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq holds up a photo of Father Johannes Rivoire in July 2021,
when she made public calls for the government to bring Rivoire to justice. (YouTube)
RCMP have said Rivoire is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant related to a new sexual assault charge laid in February.
The Nunavut RCMP has said officers received the complaint last year regarding sexual assaults alleged to have occurred about 47 years ago.
Rivoire has previously avoided trial for multiple allegations of sexual abuse linked to his time as a priest in Nunavut. A warrant was also issued for his arrest in 1998, but the charges were stayed in 2017. PPSC said then it was partly due to France's reluctance to extradite.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed and Pope Francis during the welcoming ceremony in Edmonton on Sunday, July 24, 2022. (Adam Scotti/Prime Minister's Office)
In March, Obed, the ITK president, said he had asked the Pope during a meeting in the Vatican to speak with Rivoire directly and ask him to go to Canada to face the new charge. Obed said he also asked the Pope to request that France step in if Rivoire is not receptive.
On Wednesday, the French Embassy confirmed that Canada's judicial authorities had sent an extradition request for Rivoire to France.
The embassy said the French Justice Ministry is currently processing the request and has asked Canadian officials for more information. Lametti did not provided more details about the extradition request, but noted in his statement that it is unusual for him to comment even on whether one has been made.
"Extradition requests are regarded as confidential state-to-state communications, and as minister, I normally cannot comment on whether a particular extradition request has been made," Lametti said. "However, I am aware of the fact of an extradition request transmitted to France has been made public, which my departmental officials have now confirmed."
There is more on this story at CBC News.
Pope Francis denounces ‘evil’ of sexual abuse during service in Quebec City
By Brittany Hobson and Sidhartha Banerjee
The Canadian Press
Posted July 28, 2022 3:12 pm
Updated July 28, 2022 5:17 pm
For the first time since the start of a Canadian tour highlighted by apologies for the Catholic Church’s role in Indigenous residential schools, Pope Francis on Thursday acknowledged sexual abuse inflicted on “minors and vulnerable people.”
Speaking at a prayer service at Quebec City’s Notre-Dame de Quebec Basilica-Cathedral, Francis said the church in Canada is on a new path after being devastated by “the evil perpetrated by some of its sons and daughters.”
“I think in particular of the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people, crimes that require firm action and an irreversible commitment,” he said in an address delivered in his native Spanish.
Pope Francis presides over a Vespers service at the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre Dame de Quebec, Thursday, July 28, 2022, in Quebec City, Quebec. Pope Francis is on a “penitential” six-day visit to Canada to beg forgiveness from survivors of the country’s residential schools, where Catholic missionaries contributed to the “cultural genocide” of generations of Indigenous children by trying to stamp out their languages, cultures and traditions. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Francis has apologized during both the Alberta and Quebec legs of his visit for the role Catholic institutions played in the Indigenous residential school system – and until Thursday he had not mentioned sexual abuse. However, he did not specifically say sexual abuse happened at residential schools.
He said the Christian community must never again allow itself to be “infected” by the idea that one culture is superior to another, reiterating his plea for forgiveness. “The pain and the shame we feel must become an occasion for conversion: never again!”
Francis received a long-standing ovation after his address from the invitation-only congregation, which included bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians and pastoral workers from across Canada.
There is much more on this story at Global News.
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