Residential school survivor hopes Pope Francis brings more than an apology to Canada
CBC
WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
Residential school survivors like Peter Gardippi say they have mixed feelings about Pope Francis's impending visit to Canada.
They'll welcome an apology, but say that's not nearly enough to atone for the generations of physical, sexual, emotional and cultural abuse suffered in Canada's residential schools, most of them run by the Catholic Church.
They hope Francis's visit will lead to compensation, full disclosure of records and promises to renounce a 500-year-old Doctrine of Discovery long used by the church to justify its subjugation and colonization of Indigenous people.
No timeline, locations or other details on the visit announced Wednesday by the Vatican have been released.
The announcement follows the discovery of hundreds of unmarked burial sites near residential schools at the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in British Columbia, the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan and elsewhere.
It also follows a CBC News investigation which raised questions about all three elements of the Catholic Church's claims of compensation.
Catholic bishops recently issued an apology and pledged to restart their failed fundraising campaign with a goal of $30 million.
Gardippi is a member of the Beardy's and Okemasis' Cree Nation in central Saskatchewan. He's also part of the Saskatoon Survivors' Circle, a peer network that visits schools and other institutions.
Gardippi spoke Wednesday afternoon with the CBC's Jason Warick. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Warick: You're a survivor. What would you like to say about that experience?
Gardippi: I went to St. Michael's Indian Residential School from 1955 to 1963.
My experience at residential school was not the best. I was there for eight years.
I always remember the first day that the priest picked me up at my home community. I didn't know who the priest was. I got picked up by this priest and was taken away to to the residential school.
At a time when Canada is vastly expanding its child-care system, and just eight months after a major E. coli outbreak in Calgary child-care centres, an Alberta Health Services analysis shows the province is lagging in its rate of daycare inspections, falling far short of its guideline of at least two inspections per year at each of the province's licensed daycare centres.