SIOUX LOOKOUT – With Pope Francis’s visit to Canada scheduled for this upcoming Sun. July 24, NDP Deputy Leader Sol Mamakwa is heading to Edmonton to meet the Pope at the former Residential School in Maskwacis.
Last May, Pope Francis accepted an invitation from the Prime Minister and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to visit Canada and to further advance the work of reconciliation.
“This visit will provide a unique opportunity for Pope Francis to listen and dialogue with Indigenous peoples on our own territories, said Mamakwa.
Mamakwa will carry with him a birchbark scroll with the testimony of other survivors calling for the revocation of the Doctrine of Discovery.
According to the Assembly of First Nation’s report on Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery, the Doctrine of Discovery is a series of formal colonial statements from the Pope, Kings or Queens, and explorers originating in 1400s Europe who claimed they have discovered the New World negating the fact that there were Indigenous People already living on this land before European settlement.
During the European “Age of Discovery”, Christian explorers “claimed” Turtle Island, which is now known as Canada, for their monarchs citing the Doctrine of Discovery as legal and moral colonial justification to dispossess the Indigenous population forcing them to become wards of their own land.
As Europeans began to colonize Turtle Island, the claim of European discovery was used by Christian settlers to dehumanize and exploit Indigenous people.
Because colonial countries believed they were inherently superior to other nations of people due to ideological social, political, and religious rights, the Doctrine of Discovery was held up as a substantial legal document that justified the genocide of the First Nation’s people across Canada.
“Pope Francis’s visit to Canada brings with it complex emotions for Indigenous peoples, including myself. I will be sharing greetings with him on behalf of all of the people of Kiiwetinoong, especially those of the many who survived the Indian Residential School system,” said Mamakwa.
Mamakwa was born on the Kingfisher First Nations reservation and has seen firsthand the injustices of a residential day school system.
Since becoming a member of the New Democratic Party, he has become the first political leader to become MPP in the riding of Kiiwetinoog, the first Indigenous MP to become the Deputy Leader of the NDP.
“It is my hope that the message shared by the Pope next week will be a catalyst for healing, including the release of all records and sacred items being held by the Church, the revocation of the Doctrine of Discovery, and the prosecution of those who participated in the abuses of children in the schools,” said Mamakwa.
Mamakwa will meet with Pope Francis on Mon. July 25 at the Maskwacis, Alberta where the Pope will address a crowd of Indigenous peoples following his visit to the nearby Ermineskin Cree Nation Cemetery and the site of the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School.
