Since the May 2021 announcement by Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir that ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technology had located the remains of 215 children on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, Canada has been embroiled in difficult attempts to come to terms with claims of mass graves, murder and genocide. 

After two and a half years of work, Independent Special Interlocutor Kimberly Murray has released a two-volume report at the Oct. 29-30 National Gathering on Unmarked Graves in Gatineau, Que. that focused more on reparations and denialism than the identification and protection of unmarked graves. 

Vancouver Archbishop Raymond Roussin, SM, called the residential school system “deeply flawed” when in 2008 he made an historic apology on behalf of the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

With over $17.5 million raised in the two-and-a-half years since the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund (IRF) became a registered charity in March 2022, the 73 Canadian Catholic dioceses are poised to exceed the five-year $30-million commitment Canada's Catholic bishops made to the nation's Indigenous peoples.

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) President Bishop William McGrattan today reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s commitment to reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous peoples to mark the second anniversary of Pope Francis embarking upon his penitential pilgrimage to Canada.

Flaws will be found, objections raised, and nits picked with the Sacred Covenant made between Catholic and Indigenous leaders regarding the Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C.

The Sacred Covenant signed on Easter Sunday by the Archdiocese of Vancouver and Kamloops First Nation was made public on Friday, National Indigenous Peoples Day.

Reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and entities of the Catholic Church will be a long road to travel. Dr. Natasha Duquette has taken some steps along this road by recently offering an academic course called Indigenous Writers of North America.

Though Vancouver Archbishop Michael Miller called the Easter accord between the Kamloops First Nation and two British Columbia Catholic dioceses a significant and historic “milestone,” there appear to be no plans for other Canadian bishops to immediately follow suit.

The journey to the Easter Sunday signing in Kamloops of a sacred covenant between the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc (Kamloops First Nation) and Catholic bishops from Vancouver and Kamloops took several years, and it was the efforts of two men that began the process, say Kamloops Chief Rosanne Casimir and Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller.

At the Easter signing of a Sacred Covenant between the Kamloops First Nation and two Catholic bishops, Vancouver Archbishop Michael Miller quoted former Chief Manny Jules: “One cannot reconcile without the other.”

Almost three years ago, reports of underground anomalies near a former Kamloops residential school caused a firestorm of media mistruths about mass graves, which became a focus of Pope Francis’ visit to Canada in 2022.

Calgary’s emeritus Bishop Fred Henry has been named one of the world’s “Top 10 people of 2023” by Inside the Vatican magazine for challenging the consensus on graves at former Indian residential schools.

The Archdiocese of Toronto is allotting more than $2.7 million to fund eight projects to support the ongoing journey of healing and reconciliation with Canada’s First Nation, Inuit and Métis people.

Archbishop Donald Bolen charged young Canadian academics with a call to action to be critical contributors to the telling of history surrounding Canada’s past relations with its Indigenous people.