Catholic response

When Indigenous cultural practices and languages were prohibited, that was part of the more painful memories and legacies of the students at the residential schools. As a result, the Canadian Catholic Bishops and leaders of the religious communities issued a statement regarding residential schools citing “We are sorry and deeply regret the pain, suffering and alienation that so many experienced” in 1991.

Catholic agencies and institutions similar to the ‘Canadian Catholic Bishops’ are helping to heal the sufferings of the Indigenous children, which includes loss of culture through assimilation.

https://www.catholicvoices.ca/issues/indian-residential-schools/

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Pope Benedict XVI articulated his grief to a delegation from Canada’s Assembly of First Nations for the abuse and mistreatment that Indigenous children faced at the residential schools run by the Roman Catholic Church. Sympathy and solidarity was offered by the Pope to those who were upset by the treatment of church members including their efforts to assimilate. There was a private audience when these comments were given that included residential school survivors, Indigenous elders, and Phil Fontaine, leader of the Assembly of First Nations. Phil Fontaine considered the Pope’s words meaningful or “significant”

The Catholic Church responds to the issue through its social teachings such as “human dignity” and “solidarity”. These teachings go against the assimilation of Indigenous children in residential schools. The social teaching of “human dignity” is all about having a sense of self-respect and self-worth along with physical and psychological integrity. It recognizes human rights and any discrimination that happens towards the Indigenous children, in attempts of assimilate them to Euro-Canadian culture. The idea that the Indigenous children were less “civilized” and had to be changed, contradicts the principle of human dignity. The social teaching of “solidarity” is all about treating each other with value and respect while appreciating who they are. In other words, everyone treats each-other as brothers and sisters. This is contradictory to assimilation in residential schools, as it is all about treating one cultural group superior than the other. Hence, the basic human and legal rights of solidarity and human dignity were stripped away from the Indigenous children in efforts to assimilate them.