For a family member of survivors of a boarding school in Canada, the minimal $55 million cost of Pope Francis’ visit to Canada last summer feels like another slap in the face to Indigenous peoples.
Posted at 6:16 am
Kelly Geraldine Malone The Canadian Press
“Think of all the money that could have gone to survivors, all the money that could have gone to healing, all the money that should rightfully be given to people who survived the genocide,” Michelle Robinson testifies Calgary.
Documents obtained by The Canadian Press under freedom of information laws show that the federal government spent at least $55,972,683 on a six-day visit by the head of the Roman Catholic Church to Canada last July.
Pope Francis has apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in boarding schools during visits to Alberta, Quebec and Nunavut.
Indigenous Services Canada has provided approximately $30 million. This money should be used for travel, local programs and healing initiatives.
For its part, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) provided $5.1 million for the Pope’s visit. The bulk of that money, $3.9 million, went toward broadcasting stops on the Pope’s trip, as well as native language and French translation services.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), meanwhile, said it had spent more than $18 million as of February 24, 2023, including overtime pay, travel expenses and accommodation costs. Global Affairs Canada spent approximately $2 million on travel, meetings and lodging, and an additional $35,728 on communications and media relations.
Public Safety Canada has redacted all costs for records obtained through access to information requests.
“I think all costs should be public knowledge,” Lori Campbell, associate vice president for indigenous engagement at the University of Regina, said in an email. According to Ms. Campbell, it’s difficult to put a dollar value on the damage boarding schools have done to the people who live there and the intergenerational effect that is being felt to this day.
An estimated 150,000 indigenous children were placed in boarding schools for a century, and the Catholic Church managed about 60% of the facilities.
Manitoba Metis Federation President David Chartrand said in a statement the apology was necessary to address historical injustices. “There is always a cost to hosting a foreign head of state, including Pope Francis, and this is widely seen as part of the cost of maintaining diplomatic relations.”
And Mr Chartrand added: “In any event, the logistical cost of an apology will never exceed the price paid by our survivors and their families. »
Heather Bear, vice president of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations of Saskatchewan, agreed the apology is important to many people, but it must not come at the expense of funding for Indigenous peoples. “We’ve paid enough. We’ve paid enough with our lives,” she said.
Survivors had been urging the pope to apologize for decades before the visit, including during a trip by indigenous leaders to the Vatican in 2009 and last April. The call intensified after thousands of what appear to be unmarked graves were found at the sites of many former boarding schools.
Lori Campbell recalls that the visit was to be the result of calls to action by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigating the heritage of the hostels. “While it was important to some that the Pope heed the call to action, I personally don’t know of any indigenous people, young or old, who think this money was well spent,” she said.
Some survivors and indigenous people said the Pope’s apology on Canadian soil was important to their healing and reconciliation process. Others said it was insufficient.
Francis asked forgiveness for abuses committed by some members of the Catholic Church, as well as for cultural destruction and forced assimilation, but said hostels were just genocide when questioned about it by reporters on his flight back to Rome.
Michelle Robinson’s grandmother, aunt and uncle attended boarding schools. She said the church has already failed to meet its obligations under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
In 2006, 49 Catholic institutions agreed to do their best to raise $25 million as part of a compensation program for former boarders. After raising less than 4 million, a court released the Catholic corporations from their financial obligations.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, which was not involved in the original deal, pledged in 2021 to raise $30 million over the next five years after identifying shortcomings in the previous campaign. Canadian bishops organized the papal visit and previously said it cost the organization around $18.6 million.
Michelle Robinson understands that the Pope’s visit came at a cost and that for some people the apology was important. However, she believes security costs have increased due to anti-Indigenous concerns about protests or violence.
She adds that the Catholic Church has failed to meet its financial obligations and has now cost Canada millions more because of the Pope’s visit – so she should foot the bill.
In his view, Canada’s money would be much better spent on language and culture revitalization, anti-racism training, education and support for indigenous peoples. “That money absolutely could have been better spent and it wasn’t. »