Pope aplogises for residential schools...................Pages 4

The offi cial admission from Pope Francis has opened calls for the original Doctrine of Discovery to be revoked

By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor

Today the Pope concludes his fi ve-day visit to Canada, leaving behind mixed feelings among First Nations communities after he apologised for the pain caused by the residential school system. Pope Francis made stops in Edmonton, Iqaluit and Quebec City July 24-29, addressing former residential school students and Indigenous leaders at each event. His visit follows a meeting with First Nations, Métis and Inuit representatives at the Vatican on April 1, when he recognised the “deplorable behaviour” of Catholics who abused children while working at residential schools. This message continued while Pope Francis gave a statement at the former site of the Ermineskin Indian Residential School in Maskwacis, Alberta. “I am sorry. I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their own indiff erence, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools,” said Pope Francis to residential school survivors and delegates at the event. “What our Christian faith tells us is that this was a disastrous error, incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Many of Canada’s residential schools were run by the Catholic Church, leading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to list the need for a papal apology for the church’s role in the institutionalisation of Indigenous children among its Calls for Action. Before the Pope’s visit Terry Teegee, regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, expressed hope that the apology would be on behalf of the whole Catholic Church, rather that for certain members who abused children. The BAFN has since accepted the Pope’s apology. “The apology is a signal for all members of the Roman Catholic Church to accept responsibility, and the shame, of the evil atrocities that were committed upon generations of Indigenous Peoples,” stated Teegee in a press release. “Together we are confronting diffi cult truths that have shaped Canada’s economic, social and cultural institutions that continue to systematically deprive First Nations of freedoms, liberty and rights.” Judith Sayers, president of the Nuuchah-nulth Tribal Council, doesn’t think that Pope Francis went far enough with his words. “I just think he should have made a full, all-out apology from the very beginning of the Catholic Church’s involvement in residential schools - on behalf of the church, on behalf of all those people - and all the abuses,” she said. Sayers noted that a funding commitment to help survivors with healing would have been much more meaningful, as well as a promise to turn over all residential school records. “Those were the substantial pieces that I thought were missing,” she said. For the better part of a century the Catholic Church operated the Christie Indian Residential School, which housed First Nations children on Meares Island from 1900 to 1973, before it moved to Tofi no for a decade. Bernard Jack attended Christie from 1968-73, starting at the age of six when he was taken from his home in Yuquot. At that time the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation member didn’t speak English, but was punished for using his native language at the school. He recalls seeing graves there, and was discouraged from acknowledging them while at the school. Jack has seen this environment aff ect many former students for the rest of their lives. “I don’t know how many generations I’ve seen lost through my life, my schoolmates, my uncles and aunts, due to alcoholism,” he said. “There was nowhere else to turn.” For Jack, the papal apology carries no meaning. “It’s too little too late…I’m just so sickened by this,” he said. “Why was that religion thrown in our face when we had our own custom?” Eldon Yellowhorn has older siblings who attended the residential school that once stood where Pope Francis delivered his apology. Now the next steps will be how the Canadian Congress of Bishops and local diocese follow through with supports, he said. “That’s why the church has an obligation to do ongoing work with communities,” said Yellowhorn, who is a member of the Piikani Nation and a professor of Indigenous Studies at Simon Fraser University. “As apologies go, it’s a start, and I don’t think we can say that this is the last word on it.” The apology has opened up expectations for the Catholic Church to step back more than 500 years to revoke an order that fueled the ensuing wave for European colonialism. Eff ectively beginning in 1492 with Pope Nicholas V – in the same year that Christopher Columbus began his expeditions to the Americas – the Doctrine of Discovery was an international legal principle holding that European Christian nations could acquire Indigenous territory by making landfall, raising fl ags, planting crosses or digging soil. More than fi ve centuries later, some are looking for Pope Francis to acknowledge a cultural dilemma that is still tied to imbalances in Canadian society. “Going forward, Pope Francis’ apology will become meaningful and sincere when he rescinds the Doctrine of Discovery and denounces the concept of terra nullius which, under international law, gave licence to explorers to claim ‘vacant’ lands in the name of European sovereigns,” said Teegee. But such revisions are slow for the Roman Catholic Church, as shown by the fact that it took the institution 359 years for Pope John Paul II to declare Galileo’s theory that the earth moves around the sun is right. John Paul made this offi cial statement in 1992; under threat of torture, Galileo was forced to revoke his theory in 1633. A similar process took place to fi nally recognise Copernicus. “The Catholic Church is not an institution that changes very quickly,” cautioned Yellowhorn. “Galileo and Copernicus, it took the church over 300 years to admit that maybe Galileo and Copernicus were right and the sun doesn’t revolve around the earth.”

Photo supplied by the Vatican Pope Francis embraces a First Nations delegate in the Vatican April 1. During an event Edmonton on July 25, the Pope apologised for abuses committed by members of the Catholic Church while operating residential schools in Canada.

CYPRESS RESTAURANT & LOUNGE

250.724.7629

Ha-Shilth-Sa newspaper is published by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council for distribution to the members of the NTC-member First Nations, as well as other interested groups and individuals. Information and original work contained in this newspaper is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without written permission from:

Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council P.O. Box 1383, Port Alberni, B.C. V9Y 7M2. Telephone: (250) 724-5757 Fax: (250) 723-0463 Web page: www.hashilthsa.com facebook: Hashilthsa Ntc

2022 Subscription rates:

$35 per year in Canada and $40 per year in the U.S.A. and $45 per year in foreign countries. Payable to the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.

Manager/Editor/Reporter Eric Plummer (Ext. 243) (250) 724-5757 Fax: (250) 723-0463 eric.plummer@nuuchahnulth.org Reporter Denise Titian (Ext. 240) (250) 724-5757 Fax: (250) 723-0463 denise.titian@nuuchahnulth.org Reporter Melissa Renwick (416) 436-4277 Fax: (250) 723-0463 melissa.renwick@nuuchahnulth.org

Audio / Video Technician Mike Watts (Ext. 238) (250) 724-5757 Fax: (250) 723-0463 mike.watts@nuuchahnulth.org Editorial Assistant Holly Stocking (Ext. 302) (250) 724-5757 Fax: (250) 723-0463 holly.stocking@nuuchahnulth.org

DEADLINE:

Please note that the deadline for submissions for our next issue is

August 19, 2022 After that date, material submitted and judged appropriate cannot be guaranteed placement but, if material is still relevant, will be included in the following issue. In an ideal world, submissions would be typed rather than hand-written. Articles can be sent by e-mail to holly.stocking@nuuchahnulth.org (Windows PC). Submitted pictures must include a brief description of subject(s) and a return address. Pictures with no return address will remain on fi le. Allow two - four weeks for return. Photocopied or faxed photographs cannot be accepted.

COVERAGE:

Although we would like to be able to cover all stories and events, we will only do so subject to: - Suffi cient advance notice addressed specifi cally to Ha-Shilth-Sa. - Reporter availability at the time of the event. - Editorial space available in the paper. - Editorial deadlines being adhered to by contributors. Ha-Shilth-Sa will include letters received from its readers. Letters MUST be signed by the writer and have the writer’s full name, address and phone number on them. Names can be withheld by request. Anonymous submissions will not be accepted. We reserve the right to edit submitted material for clarity, brevity, grammar and good taste. We will defi nitely not publish letters dealing with tribal or personal disputes or issues that are critical of Nuu-chah-nulth individuals or groups. All opinions expressed in letters to the editor are purely those of the writer and will not necessarily coincide with the views or policies of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council or its member First Nations. Ha-Shilth-Sa includes paid advertising, but this does not imply Ha-Shilth-Sa or Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council recommends or endorses the content of the ads.

Garbage pick up comes to Tla-o-qui-aht

Residential waste collection service begins in First Nation’s communities this fall

By Melissa Renwick Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Tofi no, BC - Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and the Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ Government will be introducing the Alberni Clayoquot Regional District’s (ACRD) residential roadside waste collection service in their communities this fall. There are currently six large containers placed throughout the First Nation communities, which residents can use to dispose of their household waste. This means that there is no waste separation. The ACRD launched a West Coast Solid Waste Working Group in 2019 that included representatives from Ucluelet, Tofi no, Parks Canada, and Tla-o-qui-aht, Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ and Toquaht First Nations. Their goal was to fi nd opportunities to improve waste management in the region. It has resulted in the introduction of organics to residential waste collection. This new service will divert food and yard waste from landfi lls, transforming it into “reusable, nutrient-rich compost,” the ACRD said in a release. The nations are anticipating to receive the three-stream roadside collection service for organic waste, recycling and garbage in October, before the program is rolled out more widely across the west coast. The towns of Tofi no and Ucluelet will receive organics pick-up for the fi rst time in the fall on a weekly basis. Recycling and garbage collection will alternate on a bi-weekly basis. Because the nations are receiving the Sort’nGo service for the fi rst time, it is rolling out in the communities six weeks earlier than in Tofi no and Ucluelet. Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation has never had a recycling program within their communities of Opitsaht, Esowista to Ty-Histanis, said Shawn Quick, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation public works manager. He attributes it to a “lack of direction, help and understanding.” “Traditionally, we didn’t have to worry about our scraps degrading in a harmful way in the ecosystem,” he said. “But now we have all these plastics and other pollutants - we have to properly manage them to make sure we don’t poison our territory going forward.” Colonial policies that were put in place to “subjugate” Indigenous communities interrupted how waste was traditionally disposed of, he said. Growing up, Quick said he didn’t see any care given to the disposal of waste. “[The government] put us into little communities that they could manage,” he said. “But now they’re leaving it to us to take care of ourselves.” Tla-o-qui-aht is now in the midst of learning how to manage diff erent policies and actions, which Quick said includes eff ective waste removal. The introduction of recycling and organic waste collection has been a goal of Quick’s since he took on his role around fi ve years ago. “It’s about time,” he said. “To take care of our waste properly and reduce our impact on our climate.” Quick said organics will be transported for composting to the Tofi no airport, recyclables will be brought to the recycling depot in Tofi no, and garbage will be brought to the West Coast Landfi ll. “It’s exciting to see the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ Government lead the way on the west coast with the expansion of the ACRD’s threestream Sort’nGo program,” said Josie Osborne, MLA for Mid Island-Pacifi c Rim. “This service gives families another tool to reduce impacts on the environment and makes our west coast communities a healthier plan to work, live, and play.” Residents can expect to receive new collection carts for organics, recycling and garbage ahead of the program’s launch according to the ACRD. The ACRD received a $6 million grant in 2020 to introduce organics collection to the region through the Canada Community Building Fund. In 2021, the Sort’nGo program was kicked off in Port Alberni. “The Sort’nGo service will be a large change for the residents of Hitacu – for decades we’ve relied on community dumpsters that many are used to using for discarding waste at leisure,” said Spencer Touchie, Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ assets manager. “This new change in providing a weekly service, off ering organics, recycling, and waste removal, will help us move forward in a more sustainable way.” As Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ nears the launch, Touchie said the nation is working with the ACRD to off er information sessions and packages to hitacu residents. “Organic waste diversion is a huge priority for all of us,” said ACRD Board Chair John Jack. “We’ll be working together over the coming months on logistics, education and engagement to ensure a successful pilot project.” Quick said the move is being made to be “appropriate stewards” of the land. “To ensure we decrease our footprint in the world today, and try to make the best choices [we can] with our solid waste removal,” he said.

Photo by Melissa Renwick The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation community of Esowista sits on the edge of Vancouver Island, near Tofi no.

Ha-Shilth-Sa belongs to every Nuu-chah-nulth person including those who have passed on, and those who are not yet born. A community newspaper cannot exist without community involvement. If you have any great pictures you’ve taken, stories or poems you’ve written, or artwork you have done, please let us know so we can include it in your newspaper. E-mail holly.stocking@nuuchahnulth.org. This year is Ha-Shilth-Sa’s 48th year of serving the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations. We look forward to your continued input and support. Kleco! Kleco!

Legal Information

The advertiser agrees that the publisher shall not be liable for damages arising out of errors in advertisements beyond the amount paid for space actually occupied by the portion of the advertisement in which the error is due to the negligence of the servants or otherwise, and there shall be no liability for non-insertion of any advertisement beyond the amount paid for such advertisements