Documents show the federal government spent a minimum of $55,972,683 for the leader of the Roman Catholic Church to visit Canada over six days last July.
It's been almost three months since the pope's public apology for violence committed by members of the Catholic church against Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island, especially through the residential school system. But, critically, he stopped short of acknowledging fault by the church itself, which some believe to be a major oversight. In Montreal, the relationship between the Catholic church and Indigenous community organizers remains complicated.When asked in early August, the executive director of the Native Women's Shelter and co-director of Resilience Montreal, Nakuset, told MTL Blog that the Catholic church had not yet contributed to the work Resilience does. Following the pope's apology, Nakuset penned an open letter calling on Christians to take action through donations and fundraising to directly support community-led organizations, like Resilience, that support residential school survivors.
Many Indigenous advocacy groups have responded critically to the apology given yesterday by Pope Francis. Montreal-area organization Resilience Montreal joined in with specific comments around reparations and homelessness. The self-described "wellness centre" supports unhoused people in the city – especially those who are Indigenous.