indigenous

Friday September 30, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 30, 2022

King Charles: Will the monarchy move reconciliation forward in Canada?

Earlier this year, at a reception in Canada’s national capital, King Charles – at the time the Prince of Wales – was asked for an apology.

September 20, 2022

The request came from Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald, who told him that the Crown needs to make amends for the “assimilation and genocide” of indigenous schoolchildren at residential schools run by the Anglican Church – of which Charles is now the head – and for its role in colonisation.

The three-day visit was Charles’s nineteenth official tour in the country, and his last as the Prince of Wales.

Charles did not apologise on the trip, though he spoke of the need to “come to terms with the darker and more difficult aspects” of history.

But some are hopeful that the new King’s accession will be the beginning of a more positive relationship between the Crown and indigenous peoples in Canada.

Around the world, Commonwealth nations, including Canada, are grappling with what the role of the monarchy following Queen Elizabeth’s death, and what her son, Charles, should do to make amends for colonialism.

In Canada, the King’s accession comes amid a national conversation about reconciliation with indigenous peoples.

June 1, 2021

It is a conversation that has been building for years, but came to the forefront last summer as First Nations came forward with evidence of the discovery of unmarked graves on the sites of former residential schools – government-funded institutions established in the 1800s that were part of a former policy to assimilate indigenous children.

For Canada, reconciliation is multi-faceted. In addition to a royal apology, many have called on the Crown to return indigenous artefacts that were removed and taken to Britain, and to play a more active role in honouring historic treaty relationships between the monarchy and indigenous people.

These treaties are constitutionally recognised agreements that define the rights and responsibilities between indigenous groups and federal and provincial governments. Treaties with the Crown date back to the 1700s, and negotiating modern treaties is seen as an important part of reconciliation. 

June 3, 2015

Cree writer and former treaty negotiator Darrel J McLeod argued in Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper earlier this month that Queen Elizabeth failed to use the resources available to her to make amends for things done in the Crown’s name – from issuing formal apology to the repatriation of indigenous artefacts.

He said he hoped the King will “have the insight and determination to accomplish what his mother wasn’t able to and use whatever time that might remain for the Windsor dynasty’s role in Canada to turn things around”.

Canada was a monarchy even before it was a country. Over 500 years ago, both French and British monarchs presided over colonies in Canada.

The connection between the Crown and indigenous peoples dates back even further, to when Europeans first set foot on the continent. (BBC) 

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro …

 

Tuesday August 23, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday August 23, 2022

Michelle O’Bonsawin becomes 1st Indigenous person nominated to Supreme Court of Canada

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday his nomination of Michelle O’Bonsawin to the Supreme Court of Canada.

June 3, 2015

She will become the first Indigenous person to serve on Canada’s highest court.

O’Bonsawin is Abenaki from Odanak. She is Franco-Ontarian and fluently bilingual, according to a news release announcing the nomination.

She has served as a judge on the Ontario Superior Court of Justice since 2017. O’Bonsawin also holds a PhD in law from the University of Ottawa.

In her application questionnaire, made available by the Department of Justice, O’Bonsawin described how her experience as an Indigenous person in Canada has shaped her life and legal career.

“I believe my experience as a francophone First Nations woman, a parent, a lawyer, a scholar and a judge provide me with the lived understanding and insight into Canada’s diversity because I, and my life experience, are part of that diversity,” she said.

Tuesday July 26, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday July 26, 2022

Pope Francis apologizes for forced assimilation of Indigenous children at residential schools

The first day of Pope Francis’s “penitential pilgrimage” began with a heartfelt apology delivered at the site of one of Canada’s largest residential schools and ended eight hours later with blessings and songs at an intimate service in the only designated Indigenous church in Canada.

June 1, 2021

In a morning event in a First Nation community in central Alberta, Pope Francis apologized for members of the Catholic Church who co-operated with Canada’s “devastating” policy of Indigenous residential schools.

He said the forced assimilation of Indigenous peoples into Christian society destroyed their cultures, severed their families and marginalized generations in ways still being felt today.

“I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples,” Francis told thousands of Indigenous people, including many survivors, who converged on Maskwacis, Alta., about 100 kilometres south of Edmonton.

Tuesday April 5, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday April 5, 2022

The Vatican holds billions in assets. Residential school survivors say the Pope should step up on compensation

March 29, 2022

As a Canadian delegation prepares for its final meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican Friday, a growing chorus in Canada is hoping Francis commits to immediately remedying the Roman Catholic Church’s broken compensation promises to residential school survivors.

Canadian bishops announced a renewed fundraising effort last fall —  $30 million over five years — and say work is well underway.

But critics are skeptical. Even if that money can be raised, they say it’s wrong to make the dwindling number of elderly survivors wait that long. They say that if Canadian bishops won’t do it immediately, the Vatican should.

Although all the full specifics of the Vatican’s holdings are unknown, a tabulation of known assets puts them in the tens or possibly hundreds of billions of dollars.

September 5, 2018

Survivors say the compensation money isn’t for them — it’s to fund addictions and mental health supports, job training, recreation, language preservation and other programs for their descendants suffering through intergenerational trauma.

“It affected my children, my grandchildren. So many are lost,” said survivor and mental health worker Audrey Eyahpaise of the Beardy’s & Okemasis Cree Nation.

The survivors say the Vatican is just as responsible as the local religious orders and dioceses.

October 18, 2018

“This has been a struggle for many years. They’ve been patient. They keep hearing broken promises,” said University of Saskatchewan Indigenous studies professor and Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation member Bonita Beatty.

“It’s a hierarchy. They report up to the Vatican. So yes, he [Pope Francis] is responsible for the various arms of his government. He can’t just wash his hands of it.”

Francis’s supporters say he has moved the church toward greater transparency, but a definitive dollar figure of the Roman Catholic Church’s wealth remains unavailable.

CBC News collected publicly available information to obtain a partial list of the church’s assets. They include:the Vatican, Vatican Bank, art and architecture, investments, and land. (CBC)