Close X
Monday, December 16, 2024
ADVT 
National

Tom Mulcair Urges Harper To Seek Papal Apology For Abuse At Residential Schools

The Canadian Press, 08 Jun, 2015 10:08 AM
  • Tom Mulcair Urges Harper To Seek Papal Apology For Abuse At Residential Schools
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is being urged to take advantage of an audience with Pope Francis this week to seek a formal apology for the role the Roman Catholic Church played in Canada's residential school disgrace.
 
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says the timing of Harper's visit to the Vatican is fortuitous, coming just one week after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called on the pope to travel to Canada to issue an apology.
 
Mulcair says Harper should ask Pope Francis if he'd be willing to do so.
 
Harper is scheduled to meet the pope on Thursday, as he wraps up a whirlwind trip to Ukraine, Germany for the G-7 summit, Poland and Rome.
 
Church officials in Canada have in the past apologized for the abuse suffered by thousands of aboriginal children in church-run residential schools, as have the United, Anglican and Presbyterian churches.
 
But Justice Murray Sinclair, who headed the just-concluded Truth and Reconciliation Commission, says the Pope is the "spiritual and moral leader" of the church and residential school survivors are disappointed that he has not yet made a "clear and emphatic public apology" in Canada.
 
In an interview Sunday with CTV's Question Period, Mulcair noted that Pope Francis' predecessor, Benedict, formally apologized for the abuse of children in church-run schools in Ireland.
 
"With all the evidence that's now on the table, the Vatican should issue a formal apology for the Catholic Church's role in the residential schools," Mulcair said.
 
"While the prime minister is with the pope, he should simply ask him if he's willing to issue that sort of an apology. That's something constructive that's being asked for that we could do."
 
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt's office said Sunday that the minister has written to the Vatican — as well as to provinces, territories and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities — to bring to their attention the commission's report and 94 recommendations.
 
Mulcair said it's unrealistic to promise to implement all of the recommendations, as Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has done.
 
An NDP government would "sit down with First Nations; we'll prioritize, we'll get to the subjects that they consider the most important and we'll do it in (the) order that they consider the most important," he said.
 
"It's not a matter of snapping your fingers and saying that you're going to do all 94 at once. That's not realistic and it's not going to happen."
 
Among other things, the commission has called for an overhaul of  education, corrections and child welfare systems.
 
Mulcair noted that some of the recommendations require collaboration with the provinces and territories. He said an NDP government would "start with things that are easy to tackle."

MORE National ARTICLES

Hydro One Fires Shawn Simoes, After Vulgar ‘FHRITP’ Rant Involving CityNews Reporter Shauna Hunt

Hydro One Fires Shawn Simoes, After Vulgar ‘FHRITP’ Rant Involving CityNews Reporter Shauna Hunt
Shawn Simoes, a assistant network management engineer with Hydro One — was fired by the company for violating its code of conduct.

Hydro One Fires Shawn Simoes, After Vulgar ‘FHRITP’ Rant Involving CityNews Reporter Shauna Hunt

Accused Retired Kamloops Teacher Contradicts Neighbour Who Found CDs Of Child Porn

Accused Retired Kamloops Teacher Contradicts Neighbour Who Found CDs Of Child Porn
Jerry Waselenkoff, 66, took the stand in his own defence Tuesday on a single count at his trial in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops.

Accused Retired Kamloops Teacher Contradicts Neighbour Who Found CDs Of Child Porn

Omar Khadr: Youth Or Adult? Question Goes To Canada's Top Court Thursday

TORONTO — The case of former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr returns to Canada's top court for a third time on Thursday, as the federal government fights to have him declared an adult offender for crimes he committed as a 15-year-old.

Omar Khadr: Youth Or Adult? Question Goes To Canada's Top Court Thursday

Canadian Air Task Force In Iraq Gets Female Commander, Former Sea King Pilot

Canadian Air Task Force In Iraq Gets Female Commander, Former Sea King Pilot
  Brig.-Gen. Lise Bourgon, has taken over responsibility for the country's air task force in a ceremony at the air base where Canadian aircraft conducting strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant are based.

Canadian Air Task Force In Iraq Gets Female Commander, Former Sea King Pilot

Canadians Join Campaigners Calling For End To UN Peacekeeper Sex Abuse

Canadians Join Campaigners Calling For End To UN Peacekeeper Sex Abuse
The coalition, which calls itself Code Blue, wants UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon to lift the diplomatic immunity that protects UN employees from being held to account when abuse complaints arise.

Canadians Join Campaigners Calling For End To UN Peacekeeper Sex Abuse

Quebec Says School Officials Will No Longer Strip-Search Students

Quebec Says School Officials Will No Longer Strip-Search Students
QUEBEC — School officials in Quebec will no longer be permitted to strip search students as the provincial government moved to act on a report recommending that only police officers conduct such examinations.

Quebec Says School Officials Will No Longer Strip-Search Students