FAKE HEADLINE: "RELIGIOUS GROUP PROVEN TO CONSPIRE IN CULTURAL GENOCIDE!" WAIT IT'S REAL!?

As a little kid, I used to get in trouble a lot. I'd have weekly visits to the office from grade 3 to grade 5. Not cause I was a dumb kid, I just made a lot of dumb choices. Looking back at that time, I learned two things. 1. Being 100% honest isn't acceptable to people in this world. 2. Actions have consequences. This is what I was taught by the Canadian public education system. So, I'm trying to understand how Roman Catholic Churches, responsible for spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and sexual abuse of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, will decide to acknowledge their actions as a church however, refuse to apologize.

The TRC 94 recommended Calls to Action are 94 requests made to the Canadian government in order to start the reconciliation of the Canadian government and Indigenous community. Only a few of these 94 Calls have been followed through. The one that I've been getting angry about is #58. Take a second to read it over.

#58 "We call upon the Pope to issue an apology to Survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children in Catholic-run residential schools. We call for that apology to be similar to the 2010 apology issued to Irish victims of abuse and to occur within one year of the issuing of this Report and to be delivered by the Pope in Canada."

Is that not reasonable? We are talking about rectifying a situation that happened almost a century ago. The worst part is, no one will be facing any consequences for what's happened. However, the Roman Catholic Churches have decided to acknowledge the fact that they were indeed involved in the incident. Here's my understanding. Not only did they commit genocide, they specifically were confronted about abusing the students at the residential schools sexually, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Let's understand the consequences of these crimes today. Take a look at these screenshots of what I came up when I searched "rape" and "physical abuse" on Google News.

These topics are no joke. In today's society, these topics are taken very seriously and cause a lot of controversy. People of all ages from children to adults know that these are serious crimes. I can't scroll through Instagram without seeing a post informing me about a case about rape with the person posting it very angry and saddened by the situation, wishing to pass on their knowledge of the case to me. "Repost, this is bullshit." Why repost? If getting the word out there and spreading news is enough to get justice for a victim of rape or physical abuse, then I'm going to do that. The more people know, the better.

This website I found explains the penalties for sexual assault very clearly. These are all sentences made by the Canadian Government. Of course, each sentence could differ from case to case, but there's no denying that if you were to decide to rape anyone, there would be serious concequences. Actions have consequences.

In this case however, the Roman Catholic church is facing no consequences for their actions. Now in my time in prison (the principals office) there were times where I got lucky. I didn't have to have any privileges taken away or face suspension. Of course, my actions were nowhere close to sexual or physical abuse, they were really just small fights. However, the one thing that I was never exempted from was an apology. I always had to apologize for my actions.

That's really all this call to action is asking for. It's asking the Pope to make an apology

on the behalf of the actions of the Roman Catholic churches. This article references several apologies made in regards to the actions at residential schools. Even the Anglican Churches have made an apology for their actions. Perhaps the Roman Catholic churches feel that they haven't been been given the opportunity. But this article proves that wrong completely. I reccomend reading it. The gist is that our Prime Minister invites the Pope to make a formal apology on behalf of the actions of the Catholic Church.

I personally think that the 58th call to action is absolutely reasonable as the churches are exempt from consequences, other churches have already apologized and this is the least that they could do. Knowing all that you know now, what do you think? Is the 58th call to action reasonable? What's one time that you've had to face actions for your consequences?

As my blogs go, this is definitely a lengthy one. However, given the opportunity, theres not one thing that I would change about it. The majority of the length is relating it to my experiences with the Canadian Education system as well as backing up what I'm saying with facts. As a blogger, my opinion is important, but if I can't back up what I'm saying, there's no validity to my opinion. Also one of my angrier blogs.

Links to Useful Resources!

Anglican Church Apology:

https://www.anglican.ca/tr/apology/

Several Apologies Made to Residential Schools:

http://www.cccb.ca/site/eng/media-room/files/2630-apology-on-residential-schools-by-the-catholic-church

Justin Trudeau Invites the Pope to Make an Apology:

https://globalnews.ca/news/3486599/pope-residential-school-apology/