Richard Thain
Churches are culpable and should be held to account for their roles in our residential school national shame and tragedies. The typically vicious administration of residential schools by religious institutions was enabled by the Canadian government. All these organizations must be held responsible for their systemic, sociopathic behavior.
Due to destroyed and missing records and the despicable practice of burying innocent children in unmarked graves, we may never know how many thousands of Indigenous children died in Canada’s residential schools.
Let’s also not forget that these same churches and religious institutions have a global record of viciousness. Recall the newborn babies, infants, and children who perished in Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes (for unwed mothers), administered by nuns and partially funded by the government. Excavation of the “home” in County Galway, run by the Bon Secours sisters, revealed the remains of 976 children, up to three years of age. Most were buried in the 1950s in unmarked graves, many in a sewage treatment system.
When government funds, empowers, and supports religious institutions, time after time these are the kinds of heartbreaking and devastating outcomes that result — for the most vulnerable, and in any society. The absolute necessity of the separation of church and state has never been more keenly displayed for Canadians.
Will we ever learn?
A version of this article ran as a letter to the editor in the September 30 issue of The Ottawa Citizen.