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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales
It was a day filled with emotion for many Indigenous people in Canada as Pope Francis made an apology for church run residential schools. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the long-awaited apology took place on Canadian soil.
The pope traveled to Maskawacis, south of Edmonton, on Monday to the site of a former Indian residential school where he made history begging forgiveness.
“I am sorry (applause). I ask forgiveness, in particular for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities co-operated, not least through their indifference in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time.”
The Catholic church ran 60% of the government-funded, church-run residential schools. They operated from the late 1800’s to 1996.
Over more than a century, about 150,000 Native children were taken from their homes and forced to attend the schools. Thousands were physically, sexually, and/or emotionally abused; their languages and cultures stripped from them.
Many Native leaders welcomed the apology saying it might bring closure to some, but for some it would also open old wounds.
George Arcand Jr. is the grand chief of the Confederation of Treaty Six First Nations. He says the apology is only the beginning.
“The wrongs of the past need to be righted. I see Pope Francis’ apology today as only a first step in the church making amends towards our people. After meeting with the pope and hearing his words today I believe there is a path forward.”
The pope also met with parishioners at the Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples, Canada’s only designated indigenous church.
Today the Pope is holding an open air mass in Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.
Lakota journalist Tim Giago is being remembered for his dedication to Native American news and Native rights. He passed away on Sunday. South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Lee Strubinger has more.
Tim Giago was many things in the news world—a publisher, columnist, journalist, television personality.
He started several newspapers, including the Lakota Times, Lakota Journal, and Native Sun News.
Giago got his start in journalism during the Korean War when an editor for the base newspaper was transferred.
The commanding officer saw how well Giago typed and made him the editor.
Giago brought his newsgathering skills back to Pine Ridge Reservation, where he started his first newspaper.
Here’s Giago in 2021, talking about his start in journalism on South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s In The Moment.
“35,000 people on the reservation and we didn’t have our own newspaper,” Giago said. “I felt we needed to have something that would provide information, report the happenings in the school and tribal government and places that weren’t being reported upon. That’s the main reason I started it. Then I found out, going along, that there were things we could do as advocates for Indian rights.”
Giago’s papers led an investigation into bank housing loans that prompted the Department of Justice to look into unfair practices. Giago worked alongside Governor George Mickelson to form a year of reconciliation in 1990. He also wrote extensively about boarding schools in South Dakota.
“We worked together as colleagues and rivals for 40 years.”
That’s Mark Trahant, editor for Indian Country Today. Trahant says Giago leaves behind an extraordinary legacy.
“I mean, he took on subjects that are really well known, but when he started they weren’t. I think, perhaps, the greatest legacy, though, may be the number of people he inspired to become journalists. A lot of young people he opened doors for.”
Giago was 88 years old. Funeral plans have not been announced.
The FBI on Monday announced an effort to address missing and murdered Indigenous people in New Mexico and the Navajo Nation.
A list of 170 names was released to improve reporting on missing Indigenous people and to draw attention to unsolved cases.
The list can be found online at fbi.gov/mmip.
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