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The atrocities against children were horrible. If you think what happened with "Catholic Churches" in Canada is bad, then just look at the atrocities during colonization by Spain. There is a long video about Colonial Spain's treatment of indigenous people in the early days by a historian on YouTube. His handle is "BadEmpanada". The Spanish government actually put a scalp bounty system to kill off indigenous people. An Apache child's scalp was worth about 25 pesos around the 1830s-1840s in Mexico. Ironically, indigenous people were often blamed for scalping when the practice was done by Colonial Spain and Mexico to kill off indigenous tribes on their northern boundaries near the Gilva River, Four Corners, and Texas. This led to fierce resistance by Apaches, Navajos, Comanches and Kiowas which impeded Spanish colonization.
As for me, I am indigenous and Catholic. My view is that I separated the people from the religion when things like this happened. Although the atrocities are horrifying, they were done by people who were NOT adhering to the general teaching of the Catholic Church. Since I am Catholic, I do believe in karma. Decades later, the "sins" are now being exposed. Hence, the outrage is present - especially involving children.
I have experienced racism in modern Catholic communities. I went to a Catholic University where white supremacy in sports and academics was a problem in SOME BUT NOT ALL students. I also experienced racism in dating. As Catholics, we are generally expected to date and marry other Catholics. But many Catholic women (white or minority) PREFER WHITE MEN. I have seen that many times. There was a scene in the film "The Craft" where a blonde white teen treats a black female student very badly. That film is fictional, but in reality there can be racial tension like that at a Catholic school with affluent teens from white-flight suburbs and minorities from the inner cities - especially in the midwest (Chicago). There were Catholic women like that. But like I said, I see it as the act of individuals and do not blame the religion itself. To be fair, there are also many Catholics who are NOT RACIST.
However, I am still Catholic. When I experienced racism, I blame it on the individuals or groups of individuals and not on the ENTIRE CATHOLIC CHURCH or ITS PRINCIPLES. With that said, there is a more constructive way to discuss the horrible treatment of indigenous children during that era. I am confident that many modern, progressive Canadians empathize with it and are as outraged as any indigenous person. So, I don't agree with the churches being burned down. As for the arson perpetrators, they likely will be caught at some point. I watched a documentary a few days ago about Albert Johnson and how the RCMP and indigenous scouts ultimately caught him with the help of an early bush pilot. His real name was unknown though, but he got caught eventually.
In my childhood Catholic Parochial School, the Catholic Nuns were great teachers and deeply respectful of indigenous people and cultures. They actually encouraged us to preserve our language. One of the Nuns taught me algebra well enough that I excelled in AP Calculus and passed the exam. I now have multiple master's degrees. I attribute that success to the encouragement and teaching of the Catholic Nuns of parochial schools in early childhood which contrasted the local public schools on the reservations.
The Roman Catholic Church might be unobtrusive in British Columbia, idk, but it certainly isn't in Ontario. Catholic schools and separate Catholic school boards (which are huge) are paid for by the tax payer and for decades have enjoyed the greatest financial support -- by far. Southern Ontario is overwhelmingly Catholic, with a very Catholic worldview.
Apart from the fact that it's entirely unacceptable for any religious schools to be funded by public funds, it's even more shocking that this entitlement extends to only ONE (preeminent) religious faith (tell even the most fervent Catholic in the US about tax-payer funded Catholic schools in Canada, and watch the shocked expressions on their faces). Parents of any other religion have few options and zero financial support if they'd prefer to send their kids to religious schools.
And the real kicker? This disgraceful inequity is accepted as perfectly normal in Ontario and one or two other provinces. It's barely questioned. The average Ontarian doesn't even think about it . They think it's perfectly acceptable.
Roman Catholicism is unobtrusive in Canada? Hardly.
And, until the 1960s/70s, the Roman Catholic Church was anything BUT unobtrusive in Quebec.
Catholics make up a third of Ontario's population. There's still a great deal of separation of church and state.
Catholics make up a third of Ontario's population. There's still a great deal of separation of church and state.
I'll bet Catholics make up closer to two thirds of Southern Ontario's population. Doesn't surprise me that there are fewer Catholics in Northern Ontario, because there is much higher immigration in Southern Ontario.
As for separation of Church and state, I don't think anyone from Ontario can boast about that. Sorry. That you think you can simply reflects how deeply entrenched the acceptance of taxpayer funded Catholic schools is in Canada/Ontario. Thank you for proving my point.
I didn't go to Catholic school. You seem very defensive about the church.
I didn't go to Catholic school, either, because I'm not Catholic. No, I'm not at all "defensive" about "the church." Heck, I now live in the Bible Belt, in the city dubbed "the Protestant Vatican," and while I certainly wouldn't call myself religious, I occasionally attend church services. There are other churches besides the Roman Catholic church.
But I was tired of the unequal school systems in Ontario, which is a primary reason I left. When they hear about Catholic schools being (fully) funded with public monies in parts of Canada, most people outside of Canada are as dumbfounded by that as I was. For reasons that should be obvious to anyone.
Again, the fact that you, for example, aren't dumbfounded by it, that you seem to accept it as a non-issue, is a perfect example of the point I made in my post upthread.
I didn't go to Catholic school, either, because I'm not Catholic. No, I'm not at all "defensive" about "the church." Heck, I now live in the Bible Belt, in the city dubbed "the Protestant Vatican," and while I certainly wouldn't call myself religious, I occasionally attend church services. There are other churches besides the Roman Catholic church.
But I was tired of the unequal school systems in Ontario, which is a primary reason I left. When they hear about Catholic schools being (fully) funded with public monies in parts of Canada, most people outside of Canada are as dumbfounded by that as I was. For reasons that should be obvious to anyone.
Again, the fact that you, for example, aren't dumbfounded by it, that you seem to accept it as a non-issue, is a perfect example of the point I made in my post upthread.
No, I think it's a breach of separation of church and state. But it does seem settled by many people.
“Currently six of the thirteen provinces and territories still allow faith-based school boards to be supported with tax money: Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, and Yukon (to grade 9 only).”
I didn't go to Catholic school, either, because I'm not Catholic. No, I'm not at all "defensive" about "the church." Heck, I now live in the Bible Belt, in the city dubbed "the Protestant Vatican," and while I certainly wouldn't call myself religious, I occasionally attend church services. There are other churches besides the Roman Catholic church.
But I was tired of the unequal school systems in Ontario, which is a primary reason I left. When they hear about Catholic schools being (fully) funded with public monies in parts of Canada, most people outside of Canada are as dumbfounded by that as I was. For reasons that should be obvious to anyone.
Again, the fact that you, for example, aren't dumbfounded by it, that you seem to accept it as a non-issue, is a perfect example of the point I made in my post upthread.
Years ago, I thought it would come to a crossroads when so many other religious or "special" schools were popping up all over the place. I sincerely thought that a serious case could be made for any one of them to challenge their tax dollars being siphoned to a "religious" school board.
We have many Mennonites in southwestern Ontario and with the addition of Dutch schools being funded through their own means it would not have surprised me one bit had they challenged a faith based tax funded school board being discriminatory in nature.
I'm still surprised that to this day it has not happened yet.
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