With the death of Pope Francis on April 21 and the conclave set to begin May 7, Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa has some fears.
Mamakwa, who is Oji-Cree from Kingfisher Lake First Nation, was there on July 25, 2022, and sat beside then-NDP-leader Jagmeet Singh at the grounds of the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School in the community of Maskwacis, Alta. and watched as Pope Francis offered an apology to those who suffered in the residential schools.
He was there to ask for the return of sacred artifacts for his people, and to hand him a scroll of birch bark, filled with the signatures of elders who wanted the repeal of the Doctrine of Discovery, the papal declaration which provided religious authority for Christian empires to invade and subjugate non‐Christian lands, peoples and sovereign nations, impose Christianity on these populations, and claim their resources.
But in the intervening years since the 2022 visit, not much has changed, said Mamakwa.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief, Cindy Woodhouse, said on his death that Pope Francis disrupted the status quo in a good way. “It is important to recognize Pope Francis for his leadership within an institution resistant to progressive change.”
But what happens when a new leader is chosen? Will there still be progressive change?
That’s the concern for Mamakwa.
“If you are believers of God, the path of reconciliation should be a path that we walk together, not walking backwards,” he said. “This colonial state, this colonial church cannot step backwards on reconciliation.”
There was certainly potential for better, Mamakwa said. He told Sudbury.com after the 2022 apology that while he found the words lacking, calling them “feel-good words” from a “colonial institution,” others didn’t feel that way and he hoped it would be a catalyst for healing.
“When he asked for forgiveness, it was so heavy. I could feel the emotions from people that were around us, I could see people holding each other, I could see people crying together, that's what they needed to hear to start their healing journey,” he told Sudbury.com at the time.
However, Mamakwa added that as apologies go, “We've heard that over and over as Indigenous people, governments will do that, institutions will do that — acknowledging the oppression, but not the colonial policies that continue to be in place,” Mamakwa told Sudbury.com. “He talked about some of the abuses, and but he never acknowledged the sexual abuse. He did not apologize on behalf of the whole Catholic church, he never talked about the Doctrine of Discovery.”
And the Pope never did, said Mamakwa. That’s why he is trepidatious as the cardinals go into conclave and the world waits for a cloud of white smoke.
“The church has said that they are working on the return of cultural artifacts, but minimal progress, I think, has occurred. Word was sent to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery, but what has happened? Minimal action,” said Mamakwa. “And I think words cannot be just words anymore. Many hope the church will follow the late Pope's lead, and I guess, we shall see.”
He said, however, that he, his constituents and Indigenous people across the country are hopeful. “We can always do better,” he said. ““The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.”
But also, he thinks the current state of Indigenous people in Canada is a feature, not a bug, in that it is how the system should work, not a side effect.
“We still see the continued strategic underfunding of First Nations on reserve when we talk about infrastructure, when we talk about roads, housing, whether it's water, sewer, water, boil water advisories — because I still have 12 boil water advisories in my riding,” he told Sudbury.com. “But that's the intent of the federal program is we're (Indigenous people) not supposed to rise as people. We're supposed to stay down.”
He said it can be seen in the mental health and addictions issues, an increase in suicides even among young children, and the lack of hope in many reserves.
“That's how the system works, and it's not broken; it's working exactly the way it's designed to, to take away the rights of our people to these lands that we live in,” he said. “So it continues, the machinery of colonial oppression continues to this day.”
So while he hopes the selection of a new pope brings change, one that hopefully leads the path forward to reconciliation, Mamakwa said he also thought the $20 million in new roads and infrastructure purpose-built for Pope Francis’ 2022 visit to Maskwacis, Alta., would bring change, but not so much.
For that visit, Indigenous Services Canada earmarked around $30 million in spending, Crown-Indigenous Relations spent $5.1 million, RCMP spent more than $18 million, and Global Affairs Canada spent more than $2 million.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter at Sudbury.com.