Mixed feelings from Sask. Indigenous people after Catholic Church repudiates Doctrine of Discovery
CBC
Warning: this story contains distressing details.
The Vatican has formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, centuries after the colonial-era concept justified the occupation of lands stewarded by Indigenous peoples.
The church's statement drew mixed reactions.
"As a [residential school] survivor, it does nothing for me because the damage has been done," said Deanna Ledoux, a mental health therapist in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Ledoux spent nearly 10 years at the St. Michael's Indian Residential School, operated by the Roman Catholic Church near Duck Lake, Sask., about 80 kilometres northeast from Saskatoon.
The Doctrine of Discovery is a legal concept, backed by 15th-century papal bulls, that justified Europeans' claiming of Indigenous lands. Court cases in the U.S. and Canada have relied on the Doctrine.
Indigenous groups and rights advocates have been long calling for the Doctrine's repudiation. Those calls were amplified after the Pope's apologies to residential school survivors in Rome and Canada last year.
In its statement, the church said the doctrine "is not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church" and didn't reflect the human rights of Indigenous peoples.
"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,'" it said.
Ledoux said she sees through the repudiation, calling the Doctrine the "meat and potatoes" of the recipe that led to colonization.
"How do you retract hundreds of years of colonial violence and church-run violence? How do you retract genocide?" she said.
LISTEN | Before the Vatican repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, it heard calls from Indigenous people
Ledoux wants to know how the repudiation will translate into tangible action and support for people suffering from colonization, including for those with substance addictions.
"They'll release this little one-page document that says 'Oops, we were wrong.' That's not enough," she said.