“Road from Emmaus” Ep020 – 215

215. That’s the number of Indigenous children whose remains were found on May 29, 2021. They were found buried on the site of what used to be Kamloops Indian Residential School. Andrew and Jason take today’s episode to lay out what happened, what the residential school system was and its traumatic effects on the Indigenous peoples, and how the Catholic Church was involved in this dark past. They share their thoughts and talk about how the lay Catholic should receive this news. Let’s continue to keep our Indigenous brothers and sisters in our prayers. St. Kateri Tekakwitha, pray for us!

Additional Resources
– Aboriginal Peoples Fact Sheet for Canada, Nov 2015:
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-656-x/89-656-x2015001-eng.htm
– Native-Land.ca
– Apology from Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, May 30: https://secureservercdn.net/104.238.71.250/30a.492.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Media-Release-KIRS-1.pdf
– Joint statement from Chief Littlechild (former Grand Chief of the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations) and Archbishop Richard Smith, Archdiocese of Edmonton, June 4: https://caedm.ca/PastoralScene/entryid/876/video-chief-littlechild-and-archbishop-smiths-statement-on-kamloops-and-reconciliation
– Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops Statement, June 10: https://www.cccb.ca/announcement/cccb-statement-delegation-to-the-holy-see/
– Archdiocese of Toronto statement from June 3: https://www.archtoronto.org/en/outreach/news/archdiocesan/statement-from-cardinal-thomas-collins-archbishop-of-toronto–re-discovery-of-childrens-remains-at-former-kamloops-residential-school/
– Archdiocese of Vancouver responses and statements: https://rcav.org/first-nations