When 48 Catholic church entities signed on to raise $25 million for survivors of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, it was specified that they would do so with their “best efforts.” Ken Young puts it another way. “It was a weasel clause,” the former regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations in Manitoba said in a recent interview. “And they used it.” In total, the campaign raised less than $4 million. It was part of the compensation package the Catholic entities agreed to pay as part of a 2006 settlement with Ottawa, former students and indigenous leaders. Nine years later, a Saskatchewan judge ruled that the church bodies — which tried to absolve themselves of their remaining obligations — could indeed walk away. “They said, ‘We tried our best and we failed,’” recalls Young, himself a residential school survivor. “I was disappointed.” That story set the stage for a new pledge made by Canadian bishops last September that dioceses would allocate $30 million to initiatives that offer healing opportunities to school survivors, their relatives and the larger communities. The discovery last year of what are believed to be hundreds of unmarked graves at former Western Canadian schools has shed new light on the failures of Catholic entities to raise funds for survivors in the past. A child’s dress hanging on a cross blows in the wind near the former Kamloops Residential Indian School in BC (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press) Now, bishops are preparing for the imminent arrival of Pope Francis, who is expected to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in running residential schools. Catholic leaders are seeking donations to support his visit, including through the sale of what the spokeswoman said were “small quantities” of T-shirts, hats and bandanas. “Any small profits will go towards the papal visit and the ongoing journey of healing and reconciliation,” Larissa Waller said.
The bishops establish a new fund
While the Vatican is believed to hold considerable wealth, fundraising for the reconciliation has been undertaken by Canadian Catholic entities. Leaders say the church in Canada has a decentralized structure, meaning decisions are made by individual dioceses. The bishops are members of a national assembly called the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. The group said it was not involved in the original settlement where the “best efforts” fundraiser came from, but nonetheless acknowledged its failure and said it had learned important lessons from what happened. Those lessons, the conference said, prompted it to establish the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund and appoint Indigenous council members to oversee it. The fund, registered as a charity in March, is accepting contributions as well as considering proposals for where money could go, the conference said. The agency has also promised to provide public updates on progress toward the $30 million goal it has pledged to reach by January 2027. On Monday, he announced that dioceses have contributed $4.6 million to the fund so far. For Regina Archbishop Don Bolen, who oversees a diocese that includes 25 First Nations communities, it’s all about building relationships and prioritizing the work of reconciliation. “We said we are making a financial commitment.” The Archdiocese has set a goal of contributing $2 million and has raised $1.5 million so far, he said. As part of its efforts, the archdiocese suspended a multimillion-dollar campaign to fund cathedral renovations and a pastoral center. Instead, Bolen recalled, church leaders decided “to approach these donors and say, ‘We need to take care of the work of truth and reconciliation first.’ He said, like the wider Canadian public, his parishioners have learned more about the legacy of residential schools in recent years.
The Church ran more than half of the residential schools
An estimated 150,000 indigenous children were forced to attend the government-sponsored institutions over a century, and the Catholic Church ran about 60 percent of them. Many children suffered abuse and neglect. “In the church, you come to see history in a new way,” Bolen said, “to see the history of Catholic engagement with indigenous peoples with a new lens, really attentive to the experience of suffering.” That increased awareness, Bolen said, is one of the major differences he sees between the “best efforts” campaign of the past and the current financial commitment. “The parishioners were not, for the most part, ready to meet this challenge and did not see things as many of them do now.” The federal government announced last week that it will provide more than $35 million during the papal visit to Canada to support Indigenous communities, organizations and school survivors. Pope Francis is scheduled to travel to Alberta, Quebec and Nunavut from July 24 to 29. Support is available for anyone affected by their residential school experience and for those triggered by the latest reports. A national Indian residential school crisis line has been set up to provide support to former students and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.
