Acknowledging God as giver of the gift is in itself an act of praise. Therefore, where it is deemed appropriate to offer a treaty land acknowledgment at an event held in a Catholic church or at a liturgical event hosted in a Catholic institution, the following formulation is to be used:

“We acknowledge that Treaty territory, on which we stand, is the ancestral traditional land of the Indigenous peoples, and is common home to everyone in virtue of God, our Creator’s, gracious gift.”

Livestreamed Masses are now being hosted at https://grandinmedia.ca/livestream/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pg/archedmonton/videos/

Canada’s Catholic bishops remain committed to moving forward with a delegation of Indigenous people to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis by the end of this year.

This FAQ is intended to provide some context and address some frequently asked questions about this important issue. We must all join in the collective efforts on the path to healing and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

After his Angelus address June 6, Pope Francis led hundreds of pilgrims and visitors in St. Peter’s Square in a moment of silent prayer for the Indigenous children who died in Canadian residential schools and for their grieving families.

Pope Francis’ new ambassador to Canada has often defended the rights of Indigenous peoples around the world and earlier this year noted they were being hard hit by the ongoing COVID pandemic.

Anthropologist Dr. Scott Hamilton said in an interview that he believes his study provides important detail and context for a public grappling with the implications of the Kamloops news. Hamilton said the “mass grave” description “misses the point with the residential-school story,” a story that unfolded over more than a century and in which appalling conditions led to high death rates due to disease, the most devastating of which was tuberculosis.

Deceased students were often buried in simple graveyards near the schools because federal authorities provided no funding to send the bodies home or to conduct proper burials.

The result, Hamilton told The B.C. Catholic, was that the children were interred in de facto “pauper’s graves” with simple wooden crosses that have deteriorated and disappeared over the decades.