Trudeau denounces church burnings, vandalism in Canada

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JIM MORRIS

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday denounced the burning and vandalism of Catholic churches that has followed discovery of unmarked graves and former schools for Indigenous children.

Several Catholic churches have recently been vandalized or damaged in fires following the discovery of more than 1,100 unmarked graves at the sites of three former residential schools run by the church in British Columbia and Saskatchewan that generations of Indigenous children had been forced to attend .

The nation also saw a series of attacks Thursday — Canada Day — on statues of Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth and other historical figures.

Trudeau, himself a Catholic, said he understands the anger many people feel toward the federal government and Catholic church. The government has apologized for the schools and Trudeau has called on Pope Francis, too, to make a formal apology.



A headless statue of Queen Victoria is seen overturned and vandalized at the provincial legislature in Winnipeg, Friday, July 2, 2021. Her statue and a statue of Queen Elizabeth II were toppled on Canada Day during demonstrations concerning Indigenous children who died at residential schools. (Kelly Geraldine Malone/The Canadian Press via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/canada-vandalism-religion-ap-top-news-justin-trudeau-0413e42880b098b338d24318b66fa195

[bucolic_frolic]

1. The world we inherited was testament to privilege, power, control - and all hushed up for stability

Canada will have problems with this. Very sad to see. Conquerors have created historical havoc worldwide, for centuries.

[luvtheGWN]

4. Yes, but it's all of North America

and Central and South America too.

Our ancestors were usurpers, caring nothing for the indigenous peoples who occupied the Americas. Canadian and US treaties made and broken, over and over again. There are those who say "Yes, we were the conquerors" and therefore that's okay. And others who say "It was the Europeans who did this, not us".

The one thing we're not ready to acknowledge is that, while we might think we made things so much better over a couple of hundred years, they weren't made better for the original peoples. They were made far worse.

[Cobalt Violet]

10. USA will have problems with this forever too.

We are behind Canada. Our history is much the same.

[Dawson Leery]

2. Those imperial Catholic churches have no right to be on indigenous land.

[Jedi Guy]

6. They do if some of the people who live there are Catholic and wish to attend Mass there. N/T

[Marrah_Goodman]

11. How many were raised Catholic because their ancestors were forced Catholics

I don't blame the natives for burning down the churches. Seems they were much kinder and made sure not to kill anyone.

[Jedi Guy]

12. That doesn't refute anything I said. If they wish, they can leave the church at any time.

If they choose to remain Catholic, then the church can be there to minister to them at their invitation. If they choose to renounce their beliefs and ask the church to leave their land, that's fine, too. People who are (justifiably) angry about the residential schools don't have the right to dictate to others where they can or can't attend church, nor do they have the right to destroy someone else's property. The idea that if you're outraged enough you're justified in destroying someone else's property is silly.

[Marrah_Goodman]

13. I'm not sure outraged is a strong enough word

I think the feelings are probably much stronger. What was done to the native population was horrific. Now, finding hundreds and hundreds of unmarked child graves.....I can't begin to understand how they feel. Sure, what they did in burning the churches is illegal, but I just cannot dig up an ounce of sympathy for the Catholic Church. Nothing against Catholics....my family are all Catholic. Considering their history in regards to native populations perhaps they should consider putting their churches off reservation property in the future.

[Jedi Guy]

14. Choose whatever word you like, it doesn't change anything.

If you're angry, enraged, upset, outraged, incensed, infuriated, it doesn't give you the right or justification to damage someone else's property. Full stop. The very idea is silly and antithetical to a civilized society.

Again, if people on the reservation are Catholic and invite the RCC to build a church on their land so they can attend Mass, that's their right. If they renounce their beliefs en masse and ask the church to close up shop and leave, that's also their right, and the church should honor their wishes. But an angry subset of the population doesn't get to make that choice for everyone by burning down churches.

[maxsolomon]

3. this is a tough one for Trudeau. or any leader.

he inherited the situation.

can't defend the RCC's direct responsibility for the state-sanctioned genocide of 1st Nations children.

can't defend arson of Churches, even as retribution, even though they're RCC.

i still want to understand the story deeper here. when are the graves from? spread evenly over a century? is there any record of what the kids died of? disease versus neglect versus abuse makes some difference.

although in the end, it's all genocide.

[EX500rider]

7. I'd like to know also...did they die of the Spanish flu or was it more insidious?

[Cobalt Violet]

9. It was more insidious

Much more. They worked them into exhaustion. They were heartbroken. They had nutritional experiments ran on them that caused starvation. They were raped, beaten, murdered.

Blaming in on disease is whitewashing. There are survivor stories on Youtube and elsewhere.

[Bayard]

5. Apologies are not enough

Recognition of brutal history on a national basis would be a start, in Canada and the U.S. A movement along the lines of BLM.

Reparations from the Catholic Church. They are the richest organization in the world.

[Skittles]

8. "church run"

Last edited Sat Jul 3, 2021, 08:11 PM - Edit history (1)

cult

[queenmandy85]

15. Part of the human condition

Last edited Sun Jul 4, 2021, 04:07 PM - Edit history (1)

What happened to the First Nations in Canada was a tragedy. The act of invasion and colonization is part of the human condition. We have the examples of the Beaker people who invaded and colonized Britain, the Moors in Spain, the Mongols and the Japanese, the Egyptians and the Babylonians, the Greeks and Romans. The Shuswap in British Columbia raided the Sinixt for slaves, the Danes invaded and colonized Ireland and Yorkshire, and the Blackfeet invaded the territory of the Ktunaxa in Alberta, colonized it and forced the Ktunaxa out of their land.
The concept of the residential school in Canada was made with good intentions, (Eton was a residential School) but had terrible consequences in the execution. The purpose was to give the children a British education to "civilize" them. At that time it was considered a good thing. It is unfair to impose modern ideas on people who lived in a different time. It is prudent to understand that our values of inclusion and equality may be derided a century from now. All those things we know to be true, just won't be true for our great grand children. As PT Barnum said (attributed) " It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble, it's all those things you do know that ain't so that is the problem.

[Cobalt Violet]

16. This was not due to the "time" that's a whitewash.

At the same time, many people worldwide were not kidnapping children and forcing them into death camps, beating them for speaking their languages, and practicing their religion and culture. With over a 50% death rate that's what they were. The governments knew of these high death rates. All people of the era didn't do that. Only certain ones had the CAUCASITY to do such things.


This isn't due to the times. No excuse for this ever at any time. It's White Surpemasit Genocide. You don't get a pass because other whites said it's okay.

What's unfair is to make excuses for genocide committed against children and trying to hide it.