By ICT Newscast with Aliyah Chavez
We meet the author behind the book aiming to support young women called
'Sisterhood.' A short film explores the legacy of the Rapid City
boarding schools. The Vatican has repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery.
We discuss its influence on tribal sovereignty ... The Vatican officially repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery
on Thursday morning. This comes after Indigenous peoples across the
world demanded this action. The Doctrine of Discovery originated in the
late 1400s, as justification by the Catholic Church to seize lands that
were not inhabited by Christians. continue reading
The Pope seems to not know about the Doctrine, according to a twitter Native.
The Vatican has formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery,”
which justified colonization and the taking of Indigenous lands.
Two Vatican departments issued a joint statement Thursday saying it’s not part of teachings of the Catholic Church.
Indigenous people have long called for the church to rescind the legal concept.
Joint Statement of the Dicasteries
for Culture and Education and for Promoting Integral Human Development
on the “Doctrine of Discovery”, 30.03.2023
1. In fidelity to the mandate received
from Christ, the Catholic Church strives to promote universal
fraternity and respect for the dignity of every human being.
2. For this reason, in the course of history the Popes have condemned
acts of violence, oppression, social injustice and slavery, including
those committed against indigenous peoples. There have also been
numerous examples of bishops, priests, women and men religious and lay
faithful who gave their lives in defense of the dignity of those
peoples.
3. At the same time, respect for the facts of history demands an
acknowledgement of the human weakness and failings of Christ’s disciples
in every generation. Many Christianshave committed evil acts against indigenous peoples for which recent Popes have asked forgiveness on numerous occasions.
4. In our own day, a renewed dialogue with indigenous peoples,
especially with those who profess the Catholic Faith, has helped the
Church to understand better their values and cultures. With their help,
the Church has acquired a greater awareness of their sufferings, past
and present, due to the expropriation of their lands, which they
consider a sacred gift from God and their ancestors, as well as the
policies of forced assimilation, promoted by the governmental
authorities of the time, intended to eliminate their indigenous
cultures. As Pope Francis has emphasized, their sufferings constitute a
powerful summons to abandon the colonizing mentality and to walk with
them side by side, in mutual respect and dialogue, recognizing the
rights and cultural values of all individuals and peoples. In this
regard, the Church is committed to accompany indigenous peoples and to
foster efforts aimed at promoting reconciliation and healing.
5. It is in this context of listening to indigenous peoples that the
Church has heard the importance of addressing the concept referred to as
the “doctrine of discovery.” The legal concept of “discovery” was
debated by colonial powers from the sixteenth century onward and found
particular expression in the nineteenth century jurisprudence of courts
in several countries, according to which the discovery of lands by
settlers granted an exclusive right to extinguish, either by purchase or
conquest, the title to or possession of those lands by indigenous
peoples. Certain scholars have argued that the basis of the
aforementioned “doctrine” is to be found in several papal documents,
such as the Bulls Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455) and Inter Caetera (1493).
6. The “doctrine of discovery” is not part of the teaching of the
Catholic Church. Historical research clearly demonstrates that the papal
documents in question, written in a specific historical period and
linked to political questions, have never been considered expressions of
the Catholic faith. At the same time, the Church acknowledges that
these papal bulls did not adequately reflectthe equal dignity
and rights of indigenous peoples. The Church is also aware that the
contents of these documents were manipulated for political purposes by
competing colonial powers in order to justify immoral acts against
indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition
from ecclesiastical authorities. It is only just to recognize these
errors, acknowledge the terrible effects of the assimilation policies
and the pain experienced by indigenous peoples, and ask for pardon.
Furthermore, Pope Francis has urged: “Never again can the Christian
community allow itself to be infected by the idea that one culture is
superior to others, or that it is legitimate to employ ways of coercing
others.”
7. In no uncertain terms, the Church’s magisterium upholds the
respect due to every human being. The Catholic Church therefore
repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human
rights of indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the
legal and political “doctrine of discovery”.
8. Numerous and repeated statements by the Church and the Popes
uphold the rights of indigenous peoples. For example, in the 1537 Bull Sublimis Deus, Pope Paul III wrote,“We
define and declare [ ... ] that [, .. ] the said Indians and all other
people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be
deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even
though they be outside the Christian faith; and that they may and
should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and possession of
their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the
contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect”.
9. More recently, the Church’s solidarity with indigenous peoples has
given rise to the Holy See’s strong support for the principles
contained in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples. The implementation of those principles would improve the living
conditions and help protect the rights of indigenous peoples as well as
facilitate their development in a way that respects their identity,
language and culture.
“The
‘enrollment’ process was started by the Feds so they could use ‘blood
quantum’ to finish the Genocide of Native Americans. Now we are finishing the job ourselves by continuing to use it as a ‘membership’ requirement. Membership: like the Elks Club or Lions Club or the Moose Lodge. Sad.”
—Harold
Monteau, former chair of National Indian Gaming Commission and a
citizen of the Chippewa Cree Tribe, today on social media
Betting, adoption lawsuits pose greatest threat to tribes in decades, experts say
A lawsuit in Washington state and another case before the U.S. Supreme
Court are part of a coordinated campaign that experts say is pushing
once-fringe legal theories to the nation’s highest court and represents
the most serious challenge to tribal sovereignty in over 50 years.
“It could have really big impacts on basically every law Congress has
passed that has to do with tribes and tribal citizens,” said Rebecca
Nagle, a journalist, citizen of the Cherokee Nation and host of the “This Land”
podcast, which explored the Brackeen case in detail. “It’s really the
legal foundation for the rights of Indigenous nations in this country.”
The highest courts in Canada and the United States are expected
to decide child welfare cases this year that could have far-reaching
implications for Indigenous rights on both sides of the border. In Brackeen v. Haaland, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide the future of the Indian Child Welfare Act. And in Attorney General of Québec, et al. v. Attorney General of Canada, et al.,
the Supreme Court of Canada will rule on the constitutionality of the
federal government's Indigenous child welfare legislation, Bill C-92.
Although the constitutions and arguments before the top courts in both
countries are different, legal experts say the two parallel cases could
affect who has the legal right to decide what's best for Indigenous
children throughout the continent. Read more here.
KEY CASES SHARE ATTORNEY
Maverick Gaming and Chad and Jennifer Brackeen are also backed by the same legal team.
The
Brackeens are challenging ICWA, a 1978 law that requires caseworkers to
give preference to Indigenous families in foster and adoption
placements of children who are members of a federally recognized tribe.
The law was aimed at correcting centuries of injustice.
Between
1819 and 1969, the federal government took many thousands of Indigenous
kids from their homes and forced them to attend brutal schools that
employed “systematic militarized and identity-alteration methodologies,”
according to a report released by the U.S. Department of the Interior in May.
After
the federal government ended mandatory attendance at American Indian
boarding schools, officials continued to remove overwhelming numbers of
Indigenous kids from their families and place them in foster or adoptive
care outside their communities.
When Congress passed ICWA in 1978, studies showed
that state child welfare agencies and private adoption companies were
taking between 25% and 35% of Native kids from their families. And 85%
of those children were placed with non-Indigenous families.
Native
families are still four times as likely as white families to have kids
removed from their homes, according to the National Indian Child Welfare
Association.
Martha
Aupaluktuq-Hickes, left with green hat, and her mother Nancy Aupaluktuq,
right, listen to Pope Francis during his visit to Iqaluit on July 29.
Seven of Nancy’s eight children, including Martha, are survivors of
Canada’s residential school system (Photo by Corey Larocque)
QUEBEC,
CANADA - JULY 27: One-year-old Yonnan Flamand is lifted into the air by
his father Alland Flamand of Manawan as Pope Francis delivers remarks
at the Citadelle of Quebec on the Plains of Abraham on July 27, 2022 in
Quebec, Canada. Pope Francis is traveling across Canada for a
“pilgrimage of penance,” to meet with and apologize to Indigenous
communities for the abuse at Catholic-run residential schools. (Photo by
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Canadian Indigenous peoples face a reckoning after being granted an audience with a major symbol of their oppression.
Indigenous peoples’ most progressive hope for his trip was that he would rescind the 1493 Papal Bull and related Doctrine of Discovery,
which served as the historical Church-sanctioned policy rationale for
destroying and subverting Native culture in the so-called New World. But
he has not done that — and even the most idealistic of Indigenous
advocates suspected he would not.
To do that would have
undermined a foundational principle of Christian, colonial and
capitalistic ideology, and few contemporary world systems seem prepared
for the possible ramifications — financial, social and otherwise.
The
Papal Bull "Inter Caetera," issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 4, 1493,
played a central role in the Spanish conquest of the New World. The
document supported Spain’s strategy to ensure its exclusive right to the
lands discovered by Columbus the previous year. It established a
demarcation line one hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde
Islands and assigned Spain the exclusive right to acquire territorial
possessions and to trade in all lands west of that line. All others were
forbidden to approach the lands west of the line without special
license from the rulers of Spain. This effectively gave Spain a monopoly
on the lands in the New World.
The Bull stated that any
land not inhabited by Christians was available to be "discovered,"
claimed, and exploited by Christian rulers and declared that "the
Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere
increased and spread, that the health of souls be cared for and that
barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself." This
"Doctrine of Discovery" became the basis of all European claims in the
Americas as well as the foundation for the United States’ western
expansion. In the US Supreme Court in the 1823 case Johnson v. McIntosh,
Chief Justice John Marshall’s opinion in the unanimous decision held
"that the principle of discovery gave European nations an absolute right
to New World lands." In essence, American Indians had only a right of
occupancy, which could be abolished.
Questions abound: Will the papal bull ever be rescinded? If so, what
will that mean? Will the Pope make a similar visit to the U.S. and to
Latin America, which both experienced similar atrocities to the
Indigenous peoples of Canada? Will anything really change as a result of
this sorry snapshot?
**
Papal Visit
The historic visit by Pope Francis to Canada this week drew thousands of
Indigenous people from across Turtle Island to hear the apology they
had been expecting for the Catholic Church’s role in the ugly
residential school history.
ICT’s special correspondent Miles Morrisseau, Métis Nation, based in Manitoba, Canada, was among them. He witnessed the apology
in Maskwacis, Alberta, on the grounds of the former Ermineskin Indian
Residential School. He was there for the applause, for the tears and the
emotional protest song.
And he was there to gather reaction
to the long-awaited penance, from tribal leaders who gathered and the
First Nations, Métis and Inuit people who made a pilgrimage to see the
Pope.
He followed the Pope to Lac Ste. Anne where the Pontiff sat silently
looking toward the lake before blessing the crowd with its sacred
waters. And he was there to talk to the Cree woman whose tearful song on Monday brought an outpouring around the world.
ICT National Correspondent Mary Annette Pember also joined the coverage, gathering perspectives
from Indigenous people in the United States who hope the Pope will make
a similar “penitence pilgrimage” to apologize for the U.S. boarding
school system. She explored Indigenous demands that the Catholic Church return the tens of thousands of sacred artifacts stored in Vatican museums.
ICT gave readers the Indigenous perspective of a story that is very personal for many of us..
Here’s a round-up of ICT’s coverage of the papal visit:
By Miles Morrisseau and Mary Annette Pember
A six-day swing through the heart of Indigenous Canada is meant to be a ‘penitential voyage’ ... continue reading
By ICT
Pope Francis arrived Sunday in Canada to high expectations that he will
apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in operating Indigenous
residential schools ... continue reading
By Miles Morrisseau
MASKWACIS, Alberta, Canada – Saying it is time to find a pathway forward
for healing, Pope Francis issued a long-awaited apology to the
Indigenous people of Canada for the Catholic Church’s role in the brutal
residential school system that separated children from their families,
culture and language. ... continue reading
...But it also brought tears – tears for the children who never came home, whose remains were dumped in unmarked graves.
Do those children who died hear your apology? Who will pay for their murders? We don't want an apology, do we? How about arrests?... TLH, blog editor
Indigenous
leaders and residential school survivors in Saskatchewan called on Pope
Francis to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery. The Archbishop of
Canterbury, one of the highest officials in the Church of England, also
recently promised to see what he could do about the doctrine. (Gregorio Borgia/The Associated Press)
When
the Archbishop of Canterbury visited Saskatchewan earlier this month,
those who spoke with him made him aware of the damage caused by the
Doctrine of Discovery.
Many survivors tie its existence to the
creation and presence of residential schools, and a commissioner of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission recently said its ripple effect is
still being felt in schools today.
The commission's findings, as
survivors told the archbishop during his visit, show residential school
policy could be traced back to the doctrine and the papal bulls.
Chiefs
and leaders who attended the archbishop's visits in James Smith Cree
Nation and Prince Albert commended the promise to discuss the doctrine
with the Roman Catholic Church.
"How can we dismantle the
Doctrine of Discovery in a way so it can never be used again?" Rev.
Justin Welby asked the crowd who gathered to meet him in James Smith
Cree Nation.
Rev.
Justin Welby visited the James Smith Cree Nation to listen to
residential school survivors earlier this month. He promised to aid in
dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery by engaging with local officials
and with the Roman Catholic Church. (Bryan Eneas/CBC)
The doctrine and its powers
The Doctrine of Discovery's supposed power came from the Roman Catholic Church.
Papal
bulls, edicts from the pope guiding colonial powers on the treatment of
Indigenous people, were issued in the 15th century.
The bulls,
which empowered Christian colonial expansion, said any land "discovered"
by colonial powers could be claimed as their own.
They also
stated Indigeneous people who inhabited those lands were not Christian
and could be subjugated and converted to Christianity.
Sol
Sanderson, a Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations senator and
former chief, says colonial powers and nations eventually formed via the
doctrine would create their own policies designed to terminate the
rights of Indigenous people.
Only
Pope Francis can rescind the papal bulls issued in the 15th century
that gave colonial nations the power to ignore the rights of Indigenous
people. (Vatican Media/Reuters)
In Canada,
the termination of Indigenous rights came through the Indian Act, and
policies within the act led to the creation of residential schools in
Canada — a system, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission says, was
designed to destroy Indigenous people's sense of cultural identity.
Sanderson
says as he sees it, historically, the Canadian government has made
numerous attempts to diminish Indigenous rights, based on the ideas
passed through the generations that colonial powers are better suited to
govern Indigenous people, thanks to the doctrine.
But Sanderson says Indigenous people's inherent rights aren't and weren't ever superseded by the doctrine, just ignored by it.
"People
don't know nothing about inherent rights … they supersede everything,
but what are they, where do they come from?" Sanderson said.
"When
you look at the inherent rights we have, the inherent sovereignty of
our nations and inherent rights to self-determination, the inherent
right to education, health, social development, lands, resources,
economics, justice … that's the inherent rights we have."
Sanderson
says he hoped the Archbishop of Canterbury would come to an agreement
with the pope to implement a plan and put teeth into a strategy
resulting in the rescinding of the doctrine.
He says such an
agreement should recognize the sovereignty of Indigneous people, their
natural power to govern, their natural power to make treaties and their
natural power to legislate internally and externally both at home and
abroad — terms he says need to be dictated by Indigenous people.
Old history, modern effects
The
doctrine itself might seem like a relic of the past but retired Senator
Murray Sinclair, a commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, says its effects are still very much being felt today.
There's no doubt the doctrine contributed to the creation of residential schools, Sinclair says.
But
the doctrine also allowed for and created the thinking that colonial
powers could occupy Indigenous lands and territories — and in turn the
thinking that Indigenous people are inferior to non-Indigenous people,
particularly European settlers.
Thinking that colonial powers are
superior to Indigenous people is something he says permeated the
education system even beyond residential schools and is still being felt
today, even if schools have taken a "softer, more gentle approach" to
Canada's history.\
"They
still talk about the beauty of colonialism, the beauty of European
growth, the wisdom and intelligence of the leaders of Confederation, the
wisdom and intelligence of the people who've been in charge of
government over the years," Sinclair said.
"It's Indigenous
people who are made to look bad in the history books in this country and
that not only has a negative effect on the Indigenous children, it also
has a negative effect on non-Indigenous children."
He says
non-Indigenous children taught in school early on to believe they're
superior are potentially jeopardizing their relationship with Indigenous
people.
Sinclair says that factor is something that affected
him and other Indigenous people as children and caused a deep distrust
of all levels of non-Indigenous society — churches, educational systems,
government and many others.
'A matter of time'
The Archbishop of Canterbury himself can't rescind the papal bulls making up the Doctrine of Discovery.
His
promise to survivors gathered in James Smith Cree Nation and Prince
Albert earlier this month was to engage in discussions with the Pope
about the harms he learned about the doctrine while in Saskatchewan.
Rescinding of the document would come down to the Pope.
Murray Sinclair says he expects the Doctrine of Discovery will be rescinded in the near future. (Darin Morash/CBC)
Sinclair
says that's something this generation could see in its lifetime — and
it's something that needs to be done now for survivors' sake.
"I think it's a matter of time before the Doctrine of Discovery is ruled as being an irrelevant doctrine," Sinclair said.
He
says the question of what legal basis the Crown has to justify its
legal title over Indigenous people has appeared in the Supreme Court of
Canada a number of times, but hasn't been properly answered.
In
reading through legal decisions, he says, he's seen justices point out
the major act of reconciliation that needs to happen in Canada is
reconciling Crown sovereignty and Indigenous sovereignty.
"We're
hoping that the parties can do that, but if they leave it to the courts
to do that, then they may not be happy with the result," Sinclair said.
Pope Francis is expected to visit at least three cities during a late July trip to Canada, CBC News has learned.
Sources
involved in the planning of the trip say the Pope will likely make
stops in Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit during what is scheduled to
be about a four-day trip to the country. CBC News is not identifying the
confidential sources because they were not authorized to speak
publicly.
Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Gerald Antoine,
centre left, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed and Métis
National Council president Cassidy Caron walk in St. Peter's Square
after a final audience with Pope Francis on April 1. (Yara Nardi/Reuters)
There is a reason why the Six Nations-Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) were not invited to Rome to meet the pope and secure an apology for the victims of the residential schools — we don’t want an apology, we want justice.
Tens of thousands of Native children suffered abuse by the residential
schools administered by the Roman Catholic Church with the compliance of
the provincial and federal governments and it may well be proven
thousands died either by murder or neglect by the priests. nuns and
staff at the schools.
I was baptized into the Church as a child at the Akwesasne Mohawk
Territory. I was taken against my will to the Mohawk Institute in
Brantford, Ontarior, 600 kilometers (373 miles) from my home and, along
with the two dozen other Akwesasronon (people from Akwesasne) endured
sexual, mental and physical abuse while being denied adequate food and
health care, our bodies marked by open sores and rotting teeth leaving
permanent scars.
Deacon Rennie Nahanee, here at St. Paul's Catholic Church, believes the Pope's recent apology is just the beginning. Paul McGrath/North Shore News
On Friday, the Pope met with nearly 200 First Nations, Inuit
and Metis delegates at the Vatican and delivered a long-sought apology
for actions of church leaders in perpetuating abuse of Indigenous
children at Catholic residential schools.
In the apology, the Pope voiced “sorrow and shame” for the role that
members of the clergy had in “all these things that wounded you, in the
abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity,
your culture and even your spiritual values.” For that conduct, the Pope
said he asked “for God’s forgiveness” and joined Canadian bishops “in
asking your pardon.”
Since the historic occasion, there have been a diverse range of
reactions among Indigenous people and residential school survivors. Some
have welcomed the apology. Some have felt the Pope’s words did not go
far enough in accepting the church’s role in the abuse. Some have called
for more tangible actions to follow the expression of sorrow.
All are valid reactions and all Indigenous people are entitled to greet the apology on their own terms.
Students at Montreal's Beurling Academy are on a creative mission to
honour the memory of Indigenous children, one moccasin at a time.
The students are learning about how, since the late 19th century,
150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were removed from their
families and forced to attend residential schools.
To learn from and honour Indigenous children, students learned how
hand-sew small moccasins during a community initiative called Project
215.
The workshop was hosted by Rebekah Elkerton. She is Anishinaabe from Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, near London, Ont. KEEP READING
