The Price of Forgiveness

In the current episode of Northwest Indian News, Anglican Diocese Reverend Cruickshank admits the Anglican Church of Canada, United Church of Canada, and the Catholic Church in Canada are guilty of psychologically torturing, physically beating, and sexually molesting children placed in their care by the Canadian government under the Indian residential school system that existed for 150 years up to the 1980s. In his talk, Reverend Cruickshank asks for forgiveness as part of a truth and reconciliation process initiated by the Canadian government.

What the Reverend does not mention, however, is that when these crimes against humanity were revealed by one of the pastors, the United Church of Canada fired him, harassed his wife and children, forced the University of British Columbia to expel him, and used the RCMP to threaten him. Since then, the defrocked minister, Kevin Annett, has produced an award-winning documentary film on genocide in Canada, including the revelation of mass graves where 50,000 Indian children were buried by church officials after their murders.

The abuse and murder of thousands of Indian children is a fact that both the churches and the Canadian government have worked diligently to cover up, and apparently hope to sweep under the rug through a quick and fraudulent Truth Commission, run by the government, to exclude further exposure of official wrongdoing. Given some of the crimes were committed by people still alive and influential, I suspect the speaking tour of Reverend Cruickshank and others is an attempt to outflank the victims’ families demand for an investigation by an international tribunal, and prosecution of those responsible.