Why the Métis Nation is meeting with the Pope

Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors are set to meet with the Pope in the Vatican at the end of the month. As both the president of the Métis National Council, and as a Métis woman with roots in the historic Métis communities of Batoche and St. Louis, Sask., I consider it both an honour and a duty to truthfully share the many stories that I have heard from Métis survivors across the homeland. The trust that has been placed in me by Métis survivors and their families to share these stories is one that I embrace with the utmost seriousness. I will carry these stories for the rest of my life. Many Canadians, however, are not aware of who the Métis are, let alone the legacy of the Métis residential school experience. The Métis are a distinct Indigenous people in Canada who, in addition to their mixed First Nations and European ancestry, developed their own unique customs, languages, spiritualities, way of life, and socio-political identity. Cassidy Caron is president of the Métis National Council. Photograph courtesy of the Métis National Council The birth of the Métis Nation dates to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Successive generations of marriages between mixed-heritage children, born of unions between European men and First Nations women facilitated through the North American fur trade, led to the formation of new and distinct communities with their own political consciousness, whose citizens were no longer identifiably European or First Nations, but rather something entirely new and unique—and were recognized as such by their European and First Nations neighbours alike. Successive generations of malicious campaigns designed to strip Métis of their traditional lands, eradicate their culture and spirituality, and dismantle their collective identity—including the land scrip system, settler violence, burning of Métis villages, mandatory residential and day school attendance, and imposed food insecurity—forced many Métis to integrate into non-Indigenous communities, relocate to outside the homeland, and become disconnected from their Métis customs and belief systems. Despite these efforts, over the last century, the Métis Nation has reorganized and reasserted its rights to self-government, self-determination, and substantive equity within Canadian society. However, many Métis residential school survivors and families of survivors have yet to tell their truths regarding their experiences at residential, industrial, day, and boarding schools, and convents—many of which were funded and/or managed by religious institutions, including the Catholic Church. Métis survivors were largely left out of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process and were almost completely excluded from the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. This exclusion led to the re-victimization of Métis survivors and created new pain for Métis communities, which many continue to grapple with today. A number of people have asked what we expect from our meeting with the Pope. Having now heard from so many Métis survivors across the homeland, I believe the reason we are travelling to the Vatican is to ensure the Pope hears Métis stories directly from those who were affected most by the residential schools—our Métis survivors—including the truths of how residential schools affected our communities and the role of the Catholic Church. Many want the Pope to apologize to all residential school survivors, their families, and their communities for the intergenerational trauma inflicted upon Indigenous peoples across Canada, including the Métis Nation. Earlier this month I sat with Métis survivors from Alberta to hear their stories and understand what they would like to both say to and hear from the Pope. One of the survivors, who was 89 years old and the oldest in the group, expressed to me that he never expects to see the Pope come to Canada, admit the Church had done wrong, and issue an apology during his lifetime. As I travel to the Vatican, I feel the deep personal responsibility of doing everything within my power to ensure that he and all of our Métis survivors finally receive the acknowledgement and heartfelt apology that they have so long been denied. The time for an apology is now. The dark chapter of Métis residential schools attendance is one that needs to be told—for those who remain unaware of this important truth and for the healing of Métis people. Concerted effort, appropriate funding, and unfettered access to relevant residential school and Church records are required for the Métis Nation and its survivors to fully address the intergenerational impact that this distressing legacy has had on Métis families and communities, and to ultimately achieve meaningful and lasting truth, reconciliation, justice and healing. Cassidy Caron is president of the Métis National Council, the first elected woman to hold the office. She is a Métis woman with roots in the historic Métis communities of Batoche and St. Louis, Sask. She grew up closely connected to her Métis traditions, heritage, and culture and is driven by her family and community values of respect, honesty, collaboration and responsibility. The Hill Times

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Why the Métis Nation is meeting with the Pope

Many want the Pope to apologize to all residential school survivors, their families, and their communities for the intergenerational trauma inflicted upon Indigenous peoples across Canada, including the Métis Nation.

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