Kamloops Residential School Community Memorial by Frozemint / Wikimedia Commons
CV NEWS FEED // In the wake of recent revelations that no “mass graves” had been discovered in Canada, despite 2021 allegations that incited a wave of anti-Catholic riots across the country, Kamloops First Nation is now distancing itself from the initial allegations.
In a text released on June 24 of a recently established covenant between Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc Nation chief Rosanne Casimir and Catholic Church leaders, Canadian Catholics receive what journalist Terry Glavin called in a June 24 op-ed “the closest thing to an apology” for the so-far unjustified backlash over mass grave allegations.
The covenant text includes Vancouver Archbishop Michael Miller and Kamloops Bishop Joseph Nguyen.
As Glavin reports, while the text acknowledges the “disgrace of the Catholic church’s acquiescence to federal schools policy that was injurious to Indigenous cultures,” the Tk’emlúps leadership openly admits to the harm caused by the inflammatory allegations regarding the alleged mass graves at reservation schools.
“This report has caused renewed grief and dismay in Indigenous communities, especially for those who attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School and for intergenerational survivors,” the covenant text says.
It also reads: “Many of those grieving are devout Catholics who, with others, are seeking solace, affirmation, and accountability from the Catholic Church.”
According to Glavin, the First Nation chief also “hinted strongly at what could be construed as repentance, or regret,” last month, when she called for a “day of reflection” and referred to the “stark truth” of findings as being “215 anomalies” instead of graves.
Her announcement came on the third anniversary of the destructive wave of protests that followed the allegations.
“The covenant grants all Canadians a degree of mercy for their absurd histrionics over the residential-school alarms,” Glavin wrote, adding that the Catholic clergy and the Tk’emlúps community should be praised for their interventions to discover the truth about the “outbreak of mass panic the Trudeau government was only too happy to incubate, nurture and finance.”
