A long overdue apology in Canada

Pope Francis has done well to publicly apologise for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the grave abuse of indigenous children at residential schools in Canada. Set up by the Canadian government as part of its policy to assimilate indigenous people into white culture, the schools, which functioned for over a century from the 1880s, were operated mostly by churches. Some 150,000 children were forcibly separated from their families in the name of giving them an education and subjected to beatings and sexual abuse. At least 3,200 of them died while resident at the school. The trauma heaped on the children resulted in many going on to develop mental health and substance abuse problems. The systematic manner in which the residential schools sought to wipe out the indigenous people’s language and way of life culminated in a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission stating in 2015 that what happened was “cultural genocide”.

During his visit to Canada, the Pope expressed his "sorrow, indignation and shame” for the violence that the Church participated in. An apology from the Catholic Church for the grave abuse of Canada’s indigenous children was long overdue. Pope Francis’ apology goes a step toward correcting that. The pontiff’s grief over the suffering of the children was genuine. Unlike other religious and political leaders who’ve at best expressed “regret” for historical injustices like colonialism, occupation and even genocide, the Pope said "sorry" several times and expressed "sorrow, indignation and shame”. Importantly, he stressed the need for a "serious investigation" into the abuses for healing to occur. Indeed, both the Church and the Canadian government must take robust steps to put in place measures and institutions to ensure that such violence is never repeated.

However, there are other historic injustices that the Catholic Church has participated in and for which it has shown no penitence. Foremost among these is the Church’s shameful appeasement of Hitler and its silence over the Holocaust. As troubling is its sweeping under the carpet the widespread sexual abuse of children, especially boys, by Catholic priests, nuns and even high officials in the Vatican. While recent popes, including Francis, have apologised for the rampant sexual abuse, justice has not been done. UN officials have accused even the Vatican of obstructing investigations.

Apologies cannot undo the wrong done to people. Pope Francis’ apologies will not bring back the children who suffered at the hands of their abusers or restore families and relationships that were broken by the Canadian policy of assimilation. But it has set in motion a process which, if taken forward, can help healing and, importantly, prevent abuse elsewhere.