Charlie Angus A conservative member of parliament has blocked a motion calling on the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to invite Pope Francis to apologise for the Church’s role in abuse at Indian residential schools.
However, Charlie Angus, a member of parliament, said the motion would come up for debate and a vote in the coming weeks.
Mr Angus is seeking unanimous government support for a motion to call on the CCCB to formally invite Pope Francis to apologise in Canada, as requested by the 2015 report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
While the idea behind the schools was to promote the greater integration of indigenous communities into modern Canadian life, the schools – many run by religious orders – led to a situation in which many children were taken from their families, lost their native language and cultures and often suffered abuse. The commission’s report used the term “cultural genocide” to describe what happened to aboriginal Canadians in residential schools.
Garnett Genuis, the lone dissenter on the motion, told journalists he refused to give consent because he thought parliament should not be “dictating” to any religious entity how to run its affairs or how to engage in reconciliation.