Journal of Haiti and the Americas
The Pope's pardon for Canadian natives: only a first step
Audio 7:30 p.m.
Pope Francis attends a silent prayer at the cemetery during his meeting with indigenous First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities in Maskwacis, Canada, July 25, 2022. via REUTERS - VATICAN MEDIA
By: Mikael Ponge
3 mins
Pope Francis, visiting Canada, is due to celebrate his first great mass this Tuesday, July 26 in a stadium in Alberta, in the west of the country, the day after a historic request for forgiveness for the tragedy of the residential schools for indigenous.
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“
I am distressed.
I ask forgiveness ,
”
the pope said Monday, July 25, in Maskwacis, an indigenous reserve in the west of the country.
During this first speech on the occasion of his visit to Canada,
the Sovereign Pontiff presented the long-awaited apologies
by the Amerindian populations of Canada, evoking the
"
wounds still open
"
, he recognized the responsibility of certain members of the Church in this residential school system where
“
children suffered physical and verbal, psychological and spiritual abuse
.”
At least 6,000 children died in these institutions run by the Catholic Church until the mid-1990s. But for many, that is too few.
"
You can't say 'I'm sorry' and then walk away ,
"
writes Indigenous journalist Tanya Talaga in The
Globe and Mail
.
The 85-year-old pontiff is now expected at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta on Tuesday morning where he will deliver a homily in Spanish, his third speech since the start of his visit on Sunday.
According to the organizers, 63,000 people could attend this mass.
►
To read also:
Headlines: the apologies of the pope in Canada, an expected event?
Haiti: more than 400 dead in Cité Soleil
Kidnappings and shootings are now daily in the country and particularly in Port-au-Prince.
Bursts of automatic weapons still punctuated the day on Monday.
In early July,
rival gangs had violently clashed in the north of the capital, in Cité Soleil
.
After deploring 234 people killed or injured,
the UN has revised the toll of this violence upwards
and now speaks of at least 471 people killed, injured or missing.
A violence from which those who can flee.
For those who manage to settle in the United States, the
Ayibopost
news site, the reference investigative media in Haiti, opens a branch in the American neighbour.
A small team to produce content primarily intended for the Haitian diaspora in Miami and New York, as explained by Widlore Mérancourt, editor-in-chief at Ayibopost.
Chile: the "no" camp makes progress before the constitutional referendum
In
Chile
, the campaign for the September 4, 2022 referendum on
the new constitution is
in full swing.
Two camps clash: that which approves the new text drafted during one year by a joint assembly and
that which rejects it
.
15 million Chileans will be called to the polls for a compulsory vote.
And according to the latest polls, the "no" to the new constitution could win.
This is also the option that the right-wing coalition has chosen.
Just like a center-left ex-president who announced that he would vote “against”.
And within the population, the new text is not unanimous either.
In Santiago, the report by Naïla Derroisné.
►
To read also: Chile in the referendum campaign for the new Constitution
And on the front page of the Journal de la 1ère:
In Guyana, the beginnings of a solution are emerging for the accommodation of asylum seekers.
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In Canada, Pope Francis asks “pardon for the evil committed” to the natives
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