“Your opinion did not matter. Your ideas did not matter. There were three things we were taught there: Do what they tell you, what to do and how to do it. And do not ask questions or you” I will get a smack “or worse,” said Roberts.
“For many years, I could not say ‘I love you’ to my children. Why? I did not know what it was.”
Roberts heard a rumor a few weeks ago that the religious leader of the World Anglican Church was coming to Canada, possibly even Saskatchewan. A few days ago, British officials confirmed that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, would be coming to the James Smith Crew Nation, east of Prince Albert, in Saskatchewan this weekend.
Roberts, a member of the Indian band Lac la Ronge, said he planned to make the four-hour trip, but was disappointed that the survivors were left to guess details of the visit until the last second.
Suddenly he says “I’m coming”. “They are setting their own agenda,” Roberts said.
No one from the Anglican Church of Canada was available for interview on Thursday, but Welby posted a written statement Wednesday before the visit, which also includes a stop in Toronto on Monday.
“An important purpose of this visit is therefore to repent and atone where our relationships and actions have done us more harm than good – and to honor the sovereignty of indigenous communities,” Welby wrote.
Roberts is happy that Welby “shows some interest”, but said that apology does not make sense without action.
“Reconciliation will never begin until someone apologizes and then does something about it,” he said.
Saskatoon Cree lawyer and former adviser to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee Donald Worme agrees.
“What exactly is an apology? Is it just public relations? Do I feel good?” said Worme. “Deal with some of the historical implications of being involved as an Anglican Church. That would really make sense.”
Tom Roberts, a school’s survivor, says he will travel to the James Smith Creek Nation in Saskatchewan to meet with Canterbury Archbishop Justin Welby this weekend, but hopes Welby will have more to say. (CBC)
The Anglican Church has been one of the four Christian denominations operating in Canada’s home schools for more than a century. The Roman Catholic Church ran most of the schools, but 36 of them were Anglican.
Top Canadian Anglican officials apologized in 1993 and again in 2019 for the role of the Church in schools. The Roman Catholic Bishops of Canada first apologized collectively last fall.
Welby’s visit to Canada comes just weeks after Pope Francis apologized to Rome for the behavior of some members of the Roman Catholic Church in the system. Francis is going to visit Canada this summer.
In 2006, the federal government, churches and survivors signed the India Survival Schools Agreement. It allowed the church to settle billions of dollars in survivors’ lawsuits.
Each Christian church agreed to hand over all the relevant documents and pay compensation.
Worme and another former TRC lawyer, Thomas McMahon, said the Catholic Church was by far the most controversial and obstructive. But the Anglican Church has not yet fully revealed what it knows, they say.
“I do not think any of them get a free pass. Less racism is still racism and less hatred is still hatred. We want them to live up to their obligations,” Worme said.
McMahon said the revelation of the Catholic Church was “absolutely horrible”, but the Anglican Church “should have done more, it should have done more”.
Donald Worm, Saskatoon’s lawyer and former chief adviser to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said the Anglican Church is worth more than $ 13 billion in CDN and could easily fund treatment for school survivors in need. (Ken Gigliotti // Winnipeg Free Press / The Canadian Press)
In terms of compensation, the Anglican Church has agreed to pay $ 15.7 million. The Anglican, United and Presbyterian Churches complied and paid all the amounts agreed. The Catholic Church did not.
When the Catholic Church later negotiated a side deal, and eventually a controversial takeover, that changed the compensation formula. $ 2.8 million was returned to the Anglican Church, according to the website of the Anglican Church of Canada. British officials say a total of $ 2.8 million has been invested in indigenous ministry programs.
Compensation and refunds may have been legal, but they were wrong, said Roberts, Worme and McMahon.
In recent months, Catholic survivors have pushed the Vatican to fund treatment programs for survivors and their needy descendants. They note that the Vatican has assets of billions.
Roberts, Worme and McMahon say the Anglican Church is no different.
Worme said his research with the TRC shows that the total assets of the World Anglican Church or the Church of England are at least $ 13 billion CDN. That includes 105,000 acres of real estate in the UK alone, many of them in the most expensive areas of London.
Others point out that the Archbishop of Canterbury may be the religious leader of the Church of England, but the person at the top, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, is the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Church of England was founded in 1534 by Henry VIII when the Roman Catholic Pope of the time refused to annul his marriage to Henry with the first of his six wives.
The British monarchy has assets of at least $ 28 billion, including $ 500 million in personal assets of Queen Elizabeth II, according to Forbes magazine. It also generates more than $ 1 billion in annual revenue.
“Where is the monarchy in all this? said McMahon. “We rightly defame John A Macdonald, Egerton Ryerson and others for their role in the schools, but all this was done in the name of the monarchy. Everyone swore allegiance to it.”
Tom Roberts said he was not sure how he would feel when he saw Welby this weekend. But he is sure to draw strength from the other survivors.
“We were prepared to walk with our heads down, not to show any emotion. We became stone people,” Roberts said.
“Now, I hope we can all laugh and cry together.”
