Retired Calgary Bishop Fred Henry says he considers the fed's explanation about missing indigenous residential school children in Canada a prevailing “lie.” .“Why is the Catholic Church not asking the federal government for proof that even one residential child is actually missing in the sense that his [or] her parents didn’t know what happened to their child at the time of the child’s death?” Henry said in an email to Toronto’s Catholic Register..Henry apparently went to Catholic media because he has not yet received a response to an initial group email he sent to his brother bishops six weeks ago.."The query was posed to both the Catholic Register and a former Catholic Register columnist who has challenged political accounts of Indian residential school history," the Catholic News Agency reported.."On June 26, using the subject line 'Lockjaw,' Henry asked the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to publicly and formally reject the interim report of the federal justice minister’s special adviser on missing children and unmarked graves associated with Indian residential schools.".The Catholic News Agency said, as part of her report, special adviser, Kimberly Murray, recommended creating the criminal offence of “denialism” that could be applied to those who dispute indigenous accounts related to residential schools.."Then Justice Minister David Lametti indicated he was amenable to drafting such legislation. In his June email to the bishops, Henry compared the CCCB’s nonresponse to an ostrich with its head in the sand and its tail in the air," the Catholic News Agency said..Henry told the Catholic Register in a subsequent email “I have not had any response from the powers that be.".“Why is the Catholic Church not asking the federal government for proof that even one residential school child is actually missing?" Henry said in the email.."In response to an inquiry from the Catholic Register, Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton and Archbishop Don Bolen of Regina, two of the Church’s leaders on the indigenous file, said they are waiting for the final report from Murray before commenting on the special adviser’s work," the Catholic News Agency said.."Yet even hospitalized at age 80, the retired bishop expressed a sense of urgency for having what he regards as the whole truth told about Indian residential school history. He does not dispute the need for reconciliation with indigenous peoples but insists there must be boundaries and they must begin where the truth leaves off.".“It seems abundantly clear to me [to ask what follows] if the Catholic Church … allows the lie that there are thousands of missing residential schoolchildren to become embedded in stone?" Henry said in the email to the Catholic Register.."Obviously, [it means] these thousands of missing children were murdered by Catholic priests and nuns and clandestinely buried in unmarked graves. Is the Catholic Church prepared to go that far in the name of reconciliation?”.“Would it help Indigenous people across Canada to better their lives if the Catholic Church did go so far as to take responsibility for the murder and clandestine burial of thousands of residential schoolchildren in the name of reconciliation?” .“No, it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t improve the lives of indigenous people one iota if that monstrous libel against the Oblates, the Sisters of St. Ann, the Gray Nuns et al were to become the accepted ‘truth’ in Canada.”.In his email, the bishop, who served the Diocese of Calgary for almost 19 years and who has been a priest for 55 years, wonders whether his fellow clergy simply don’t see the implications of allowing the current narrative to stand..“The bishops, with the churches in Canada, are moving in the directions we have moved because we recognize, as Pope Francis has articulated, that the residential school system, as a system, was catastrophic for indigenous people. It was an outcome of colonization. There is a rightful need to apologize, to engage in projects that support Indigenous language and culture — to learn a new way of walking together,” he said..READ MORE: Senate committee requests ban on residential school denialism.A Senate committee recommended federal action to stop residential school denialism, according to Blacklock’s Reporter..“The committee heard about ongoing denialism about Residential Schools and that some individuals deny the negative effects on generations of indigenous peoples,” said the Senate Indigenous Peoples Committee in a report..“Of real concern to the committee is the small group of vocal individuals who try to undermine survivors’ accounts of the hardships and abuse they experienced at Residential Schools.”.Senators did not define residential school denialism. Hate speech has been an offence in the Criminal Code of Canada since 1970..The report said denialism “serves to distract people from the horrific consequences of Residential Schools and the realities of missing children, burial sites and unmarked graves.”.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had the Peace Tower flag lowered for 161 days in 2021 after First Nations announced there were unmarked graves of 215 children at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, BC..“I think Canadians have seen with horror those unmarked graves across the country and realize that what happened decades ago isn’t part of our history, it is an irrefutable part of our present,” said Trudeau..No remains have been discovered in Kamloops, or any other residential school site, to date..The Canadian government spent $7.9 million for a search of the Kamloops site and $3.1 million for the Residential Schools Student Death Register..Another $238.8 million was budgeted for the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund, which expires in 2025.
