Trudeau Tags RC Church in Residential School Abuse. What Choice Did He Have?

 


Could it be that prime minister Trudeau doesn't want another Catholic church scandal around his neck in a looming federal election?

I suppose it's cynical to suggest a possible linkage behind the prime minister's statement calling on the church, his church, to release its records from Canada's residential schools. He seems intent on putting as much distance between himself and the church as possible.

"As a Catholic, I am deeply disappointed by the decision that the Catholic Church has taken now and over the past many years," the prime minister said during a news conference today.

Trudeau said he's asked Pope Francis to commit to a number of restitution measures, including a formal apology and the publication of records associated with Canada's residential school system.

The Church has not yet delivered on any of those requests.

What a nightmare for the Trudeau Liberals. The Kamloops fiasco has already sparked calls for similar investigations at the other residential schools that could easily keep public anger stoked for many months to come.  

At some point people might look beyond the clerics' frocks to ask, quis custodiet ipsos custodes, who watches the watchers.  Yes, Roman Catholic priests and nuns played an outsized role in the abuse of First Nations children and their deaths but there's plenty of blame to go around and our federal governments, Liberal and Conservative, have a generous share. It was their decision to implement this horrible programme of separating children from their families. It was their decision to keep it going for 120 years.  It was their ultimate responsibility to ensure the  safety and wellbeing of those children. 

It's a bit like musical chairs. Whichever of our two dominant parties was in power when this scandal erupted was going to have to wear it. That's politics. The Roman Catholic church with its sordid track record is a good lightning rod especially when the parties are but a few points apart in the polls. Again, that's cynical but, hey.

It is against the backdrop of the residential school scandal that the Trudeau government's commitments to Canada's First Nations will be measured and that's not looking very good for the government. Dead kids pluck at heart strings. Justin Trudeau, not so much.




Comments

  1. GordieJune 5, 2021 at 8:35 AM

    Trudeau should look on the bright side...he gets to make another apology.

    ReplyDelete
  2. rumleyfipsJune 5, 2021 at 12:03 PM

    Events dear boy, events.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Disaffected LibJune 5, 2021 at 12:37 PM

    Just as there's racism at the heart of the residential school scandal, the Catholic church issue fuels some deep rooted bigotry among English Canadians. I was brought up in something akin to the Orange culture. We weren't allowed to play with the Liddy kids across the street because they were RC. My mother got this from her parents. She said she didn't mind if we married a black woman or a Jew. Any woman but a Catholic would be fine.

    Fortunately her bigotry didn't take with any of her sons and so it died out in my family when mom passed away. She may have made us more progressive ultimately.

    ReplyDelete
  4. TrailblazerJune 5, 2021 at 9:46 PM

    @ Mound.
    I was brought up in similar circumstances.
    To the horror of my mother I dated a "Roman Catholic" girl.
    Had I been older i would have responded that "Roman " catholic girls have the same naughty bits that Anglicans do!
    That said Anglicans are Catholics too!!

    TB

    ReplyDelete
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