{"id":27057,"date":"2022-08-08T11:58:23","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T15:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=27057"},"modified":"2022-08-08T11:59:04","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T15:59:04","slug":"doug-george-kanentiio-residential-school-survivors-reject-pope-francis-apology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/08\/08\/doug-george-kanentiio-residential-school-survivors-reject-pope-francis-apology\/","title":{"rendered":"Doug George-Kanentiio: Residential school survivors reject Pope Francis&#8217; apology"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\r\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/S8TJmgM7mCM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Vatican News Video: <a href=https:\/\/youtu.be\/S8TJmgM7mCM>Pope Francis apologizes for Catholic Church&#8217;s role at Native residential schools<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">Why I Turned Down a Private Session with the Pope<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Monday, August 8, 2022<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"byline\">By Doug George-Kanentiio (Akwesasne Mohawk)<\/div>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nOn July 29 a select group of 22 Residential School Survivors were asked to attend a private meeting with Pope Francis at Quebec City, part of his national apology tour. I was, as a former student at the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, selected as one of those presenters but although honored by the request had to turn it down.<p><\/p>\r\nI dod so because I was given but 60 seconds to speak to the Pope followed by a photo with him. There was no way I could summarize our concerns and why we, as Mohawks, have rejected his apology. <p><\/p>\r\nWe have done so because the Roman Catholic Church has not been cooperative in releasing the records of the children assigned to the institutions administered to by the Church. Without those documents there is no way we can answer the fundamental questions as to how many children were taken, where they were confined to, what happened to them and where are they know. <p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\" content_cards_card content_cards_domain_indianz-com\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content_cards_image\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_image_link\" href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/07\/25\/doug-george-kanentiio-residential-school-survivors-maintain-our-ancestral-lands\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/06\/popefrancis-2.jpg\" alt=\"Doug George-Kanentiio: Residential school survivors maintain our ancestral lands\">\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_title\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_title_link\" href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/07\/25\/doug-george-kanentiio-residential-school-survivors-maintain-our-ancestral-lands\/\">\n\t\t\tDoug George-Kanentiio: Residential school survivors maintain our ancestral lands\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_description\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_description_link\" href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/07\/25\/doug-george-kanentiio-residential-school-survivors-maintain-our-ancestral-lands\/\">\n\t\t\t<p>One of the intents of the Canadian and U.S. governments in creating the boarding-residential schools was to alienate indigenous people from their ancestral lands.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_site_name\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/favicon.ico\" alt=\"Indianz.Com\" class=\"content_cards_favicon\"\/>\t\tIndianz.Com\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nNo Native entity knows the answers and to truly heal we need our children returned to our homes.<p><\/p>\r\nWe also refused the apology as it did not acknowledge criminal acts were committed from food depravation to murder. The remains of the lost children will tell us more but those who were the abusers were employed by the Church; it was not simply wayward individuals but institutional.<p><\/p>\r\nWe said no to the apology because it did not offer equitable restitution nor provided a formula as to how we can work with the Church to realize actual truth and reconciliation based upon the wishes of the survivors. There was no acknowledgement that in every instance the survivors must be consulted and have the authority to oversee any and all programs directed towards this issue.<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\" content_cards_card content_cards_domain_indianz-com\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content_cards_image\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_image_link\" href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/07\/25\/residential-school-survivors-of-akwesasne-no-apology-without-justice\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/06\/mohawkinstitute-scaled-2.jpg\" alt=\"Residential School Survivors of Akwesasne: No apology without justice\">\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_title\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_title_link\" href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/07\/25\/residential-school-survivors-of-akwesasne-no-apology-without-justice\/\">\n\t\t\tResidential School Survivors of Akwesasne: No apology without justice\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_description\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_description_link\" href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/07\/25\/residential-school-survivors-of-akwesasne-no-apology-without-justice\/\">\n\t\t\t<p>Nothing will be done for us without us. No one may speak on our behalf without our express approval.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_site_name\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/favicon.ico\" alt=\"Indianz.Com\" class=\"content_cards_favicon\"\/>\t\tIndianz.Com\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nI could not present, within my allotted minute, our ideas concrete and applicable, about how we may truly heal on our terms. <p><\/p>\r\nI could not summarize the broad, tragic and permanent effects the taking of the children has had on my home community of Akwesasne: loss of language, cultural disruption, fractures within families and breach of connection with our ancestral lands.<p><\/p>\r\nIt was impossible for me to say in that one minute how I was taken with the cooperation of the local band council, the Indian Agent, social worker and RCMP officer. Within that minute I would have failed to address the feelings of abandonment and despair, of emotional and spiritual desperation all of us endured at the Institute.<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"mt-1 mb-1\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8411603009680747\" data-ad-slot=\"6394965691\"><\/ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/div><p><\/p>\r\nI did learn later the Pope called what happened to us as genocide, a word with powerful legal implications. But he did not say the Church committed genocide not did he reject the Doctrine of Discovery which was the basis upon which we were kidnapped and continues to be the rock upon which all &#8220;Indian&#8221; law is based-from the first encounters to the present.<p><\/p>\r\nI did not want to take part in what I perceived as a public relations event in which the Mohawks might be perceived as compliant. We will never be that.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nIn June of 1968 all of the Mohawk boys at the Institute were formally expelled-the first time for a single group in Residential School history. I am proud of that just as I am proud that our people reject any apology, and action, without justice.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<HR><DIV class=\"row\">\r\n    <DIV class=\"col-md-3\"><IMG class=\"img-fluid wow fadeIn\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2014\/07\/21\/douggeorgekanentiio.jpg\" itemprop=\"image\"><\/IMG>\r\n    <\/DIV>\r\n    <DIV class=\"col-md-9\">\r\n        <EM>Doug George-Kanentiio, Akwesasne Mohawk, is a residential school survivor. He was given the number 4-8-2-738. He serves as the vice-president of the Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge. He previously served  as a Trustee for the National Museum of the American Indian, is a former land claims negotiator for the Mohawk Nation and is the author of numerous books and articles about the Mohawk people. He may be reached via e-mail at: Kanentiio@aol.com or by calling 315-415-7288. <\/EM>\r\n    <\/DIV>\r\n<\/DIV><HR>\r\n<P><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"h4-responsive\">Related Stories<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"related-story\"><a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/08\/01\/native-america-calling-the-history-and-protocols-of-headdresses\/\" title=\"Native America Calling: The history and protocols of headdresses\">Native America Calling: The history and protocols of headdresses<\/a> (August 1, 2022)<\/div><div class=\"related-story\"><a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/07\/27\/pope-francis-apologizes-for-catholic-churchs-role-at-native-residential-schools\/\" title=\"Pope Francis apologizes for Catholic Church\u2019s role at Native residential schools\">Pope Francis apologizes for Catholic Church\u2019s role at Native residential schools<\/a> (July 27, 2022)<\/div><div class=\"related-story\"><a 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school<\/a> (June 14, 2021)<\/div>\r\n <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/08\/PopeFrancis.jpg\" alt=\"Pope Francis\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" class=\"invisible\" \/> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No Native entity knows the answers and to truly heal we need our children returned to our 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