FSIN wants Pope Francis to visit Muskowekwan Indian Residential School

Two weeks after requesting Pope Francis visit any one of the former residential school sites in Saskatchewan during his Canadian tour this July, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) narrowed down the list Monday.

During a media conference, the FSIN called on the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to include the Muskowekwan Indian Residential School near the Muskowekwan First Nation on the itinerary of the Pope’s visit.

On April 1, the Pope offered an apology for the Catholic church’s role in residential schools in Canada. Plans for his Canadian visit were announced at the time, but locations weren’t revealed.

The FSIN executive would like to see Pope Francis at the Muskowekwan Indian Residential School, the last residential school standing in Saskatchewan. To date, 35 unmarked graves have been discovered on the site.

“I call on not only the Holy See but the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to use their influence to have the Holy Father attend the Muskowekwan Residential School which still stands as our Canadian stark reminder of the genocide the government and the church worked in partnership together to erase our Indigenous peoples,” Marie-Anne Day Walker-Pelletier said in the release.

“The standing residential schools in Canada, much like the concentration camps of Dachau, Auschwitz-Birkenau and other holocaust sites in Europe, are our proof of Canada’s history and a visit by the Holy Father is a true sign the commitment that the Catholic church will never participate in this type of action ever again.

“As Indigenous people, we expect and need this type of a demonstration by the Holy Father for our healing and forgiveness of the heinous policies and practices the Church and Government enacted on our First Nations, Inuit and Metis people. Every child matters.”

The FSIN noted Saskatchewan had 22 residential schools — one of the highest numbers in Canada — and at least half were run by the Catholic Church. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has said residents were sexually, physically and mentally abused during their stay at the schools.

In late March, First Nations, Inuit and Metis delegates met with Pope Francis in Rome. That group included Day Walker-Pelletier, who said in the release that visit was “very meaningful” to the delegates who attended.

“As a delegation, we were encouraged when we were told the Holy Father was going to visit Canada this year,” she said. “This further displayed to us his sincerity in his dedication to the reconciliation the Catholic church must bring to the truth of our Indigenous peoples.

“Now, we are receiving word that the Holy Father is not attending Saskatchewan and instead is scheduling on visiting places of pilgrimages that current Indigenous Catholics attend. I must question whether this papal visit is instead a reward for those Indigenous people who still practise the faith rather than a sign of reconciliation or reparations the Catholic church must bring to the Indigenous peoples.

“The earnestness he demonstrated in our time in Rome depends on the decisions that are made on the locations he visits in Canada.”

More to come.