The Council of Catholic Bishops of Canada has apologized for the role of bishops in the horrific persecution of Indigenous children by forcing them to be separated from their families.
Despite years of public pressure, the council has refused to apologize year after year.
On Friday, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops apologized for the first time for the infamous system that worked in the country’s residential schools in the 18th and 19th centuries, according to a report by Reuters.
In a statement, the bishop’s council expressed “deep regret” over the persecution and “unequivocally apologized” to all Catholic organizations that were directly involved in running the school.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is the National Council of Bishops of Canada. It is recognized by the Catholic Church and is part of a network of global councils of Catholic bishops.
In nineteenth- and twentieth-century residential schools in Canada, Indigenous children were kept in government-funded religious groups.
This system was in operation from 1831 till 1996. In this system, indigenous children were forcibly separated from their families.
These children were often not allowed to speak their own language and practice their culture, and many of them were abused and abused. Students suffered from malnutrition, physical and sexual abuse.
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada called these activities “cultural genocide.”
Those who finally made it out of the boarding told Reuters that hunger and loneliness would haunt them. The school regularly intimidated and used force.
The Canadian government apologized in 2006 for the school system. However, the Roman Catholic Church, which was in charge of running most of the schools, has not yet expressed regret.
“We acknowledge that some members of our Catholic community have been subjected to horrific physical, emotional, spiritual, cultural and sexual abuse.
“We acknowledge with deep sorrow the historical and psychological trauma it has suffered and the horrific hardships and hardships the indigenous people have suffered as a result, which continues to this day,” said a statement from the National Assembly of the Bishops of Canada.
The Canadian government apologized in 2006 for the past residential school system, but rejected calls to apologize for the role of church in the Roman Catholic Church or the Pope Residential School, which was in charge of running most of the schools.
However, Anglican, Presbyterian and United Churches have apologized.
Catholic institutions are under increasing pressure to apologize this year after the discovery of unmarked graves of hundreds of Indigenous children in abandoned Indigenous schools in various parts of Canada.
The Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau has called on Pope Francis to come to Canada and apologize for the persecution of Indigenous children in residential schools in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.