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	Pope’s Words Fall Short The Chronicle Herald May 1, 2009 http://thechronicleherald.ca/Editorial/1119533.html WHAT can be said of Pope Benedict XVI’s failure this week to formally apologize, on behalf of the Catholic Church, for its role in the suffering of thousands of Canadian native children who were physically and sexually abused at church-run, state-supported residential schools for almost a century? First, there’s no question Pope Benedict’s words of sorrow, anguish and acknowledgement of the unacceptable nature of what happened – offered when he met former students and victims, including Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, at the Vatican on Wednesday – are welcome indeed. To Mr. Fontaine, the fact the word "apology" was not used by the Pope did not lessen the significance of what happened. "We are very pleased with what we heard from His Holiness," said Mr. Fontaine. "He made it very clear that it’s intolerable and unacceptable to have abuse in its many forms perpetrated on innocent children. He talked about the anguish," said Mr. Fontaine. "In my view, it was a very important statement." For some survivors, however, the absence of that particular word – "apology" – marred what should have been a day to finally close the door on the past. "You can’t forgive when somebody hasn’t apologized," said Doreen Bernard of Indian Brook. Ms. Bernard attended a residential school for more than six years in the 1960s, and her parents’ and grandparents’ generations were also sent to the schools. Ms. Bernard pointed out that the Pope, in the past, has apologized for church involvement in physical and sexual abuses of children in other countries. The era of the residential schools, from the late 19th century to the 1970s, was a shameful episode for both the church and the Canadian government. About 150,000 native children, in generation after generation, were forced from their families, sent to these schools where they were punished for speaking their native tongue and sometimes physically and sexually abused, as part of a horrifically misguided plan of assimilation. The Pope certainly made it clear he regretted what had happened, sharing his personal anguish, his prayers for the healing of those affected, and his clear statement that the actions of some in the church had been intolerable and unacceptable. The church has also, in the past, paid out at least $79 million in compensation to survivors of the residential school system for what had occurred. Those actions certainly indicate the Catholic Church is not absolving itself of responsibility for what happened. But, whether inadvertent or not, the absence of a formal apology this week from the Pope, on behalf of the church, was unfortunate. The Canadian government formally apologized to natives last year on a memorable day in Parliament. The Anglican Church apologized for its role in the residential schools debacle in 1993, the Presbyterian Church in 1994 and the United Church in 1998. Given the magnitude of the wrongdoing, and the Catholic Church’s clear participation and culpability, Canadian natives deserved no less from the Pope.
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