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The Vatican’s official rejection of a colonial-era concept that legitimizes the confiscation of Indigenous lands marked a symbolic step on Thursday, but its impact on modern policy will be the real measure of change, Indigenous leaders said.
The Doctrine of Discovery, a set of theories supported by a 15th-century papal bull, continues to form the basis of some property laws today.
A Vatican statement said the 15th-century papal bull or decree “does not adequately reflect the dignity and equal rights of Indigenous peoples” and was never considered an expression of the Catholic faith.
“On the surface it looks good, it looks good … but there needs to be a fundamental change in attitude, behavior, law and policy from that statement,” Ernie Daniels, former chief of the Long Plain First Nation in Manitoba, said. in an interview there.
Daniels, who was part of a delegation that met with Pope Francis in Rome last year and again during the pope’s 2022 visit to Canada, said institutions around the world still support colonial attitudes toward indigenous peoples.
“There’s still a mentality there – they want to assimilate, decimate, end, exterminate Indigenous people.”
Ghislain Picard, a longtime Innu leader and regional chair of the Assembly of First Nations for Quebec and Labrador, said the news was a welcome development.
“Many pioneers and those who have been involved in this work for the past 25 years should appreciate this development,” he said.
But Picard said the move is mostly symbolic and it’s not yet clear if it will affect policy in Canada.
The Catholic Church rejects the concept of justifying the oppression of Indigenous peoples as an ‘important step,’ said Marion Buller, who was the lead commissioner for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Children from 2016 to 2019.
“The Vatican seems to have washed its hands of its role in the entire colonization of our land, and for me it would be simple to just accept the fact that they played a role,” he said.
“Reconciliation is the key word. But how does that affect current policy, that’s really what’s at stake here.”
Manipulated for political purposes
The Vatican said the document was “manipulated” for political purposes by the colonial powers “to justify obscenities against Indigenous peoples that were carried out, sometimes, without opposition from ecclesiastical authorities.”
The statement, from the Vatican’s development and education office, said it “recognized the mistake,” acknowledged the devastating effects of colonial-era assimilation policies on Indigenous peoples and apologized.
The statement was a response to decades of indigenous peoples’ demands that the Vatican formally revoke a papal bull that granted religious support to the Portuguese and Spanish kingdoms to expand their territories in Africa and the Americas to spread Christianity.
The decree supported the Doctrine of Discovery, a legal concept created in a US Supreme Court decision in 1823 that had been understood as ownership and sovereignty of land passed to Europeans because they “discovered”.
It is said to be a 2005 US Supreme Court decision involving the Oneida Indian Nation written by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
During Pope Francis’ visit to Canada last year, when he apologized to Indigenous peoples for the residential school system that forced Indigenous children to be removed from their homes, he was asked to formally reject a papal bull.
“The Doctrine of Discovery is a papal statement and not a reason to allow Canada to unilaterally claim sovereignty over our nation and land and commit genocide. And today, the Vatican finally says what our nation already knows,” said FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron. .
Two Indigenous women unfurled a banner at the altar of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré National Shrine on July 29 that read, “Rescind the Doctrine,” in bright red and black letters. The protesters were escorted out and the mass continued without incident – although the woman later ran a banner out of the basilica and put it on a fence.
In its statement, the Vatican said: “In no uncertain terms, the magisterium of the Church upholds the dignity due to every human being. Therefore the Catholic Church rejects those concepts that fail to recognize the human rights that exist in Indigenous peoples, including what is known as ‘ Doctrine of Discovery’ law and politics.
Root cause of ‘broken’ relationships
Phil Fontaine, the former national head of the Assembly of First Nations in Canada who was part of the delegation that met with Francis in the Vatican before the Canadian trip and then accompanied him throughout, said that the statement was “excellent,” solving an outstanding problem. and now puts the matter for the civil authorities to amend the property law that calls the doctrine.
“The Holy Father promised that when he returns to Rome, he will start working on a statement designed to allay the fears and concerns of many survivors and others who are concerned about the relationship between the Catholic Church and our people, and he has done just that. He said that will do,” Fontaine told The Associated Press.
“The Church has done one thing, as it said it would do, for the Holy Father. Now the ball is in the court of the government, the United States and Canada – but especially in the United States, where the doctrine is attached to the law,” he said.
Michèle Audette, an Innu senator who is one of the five commissioners responsible for holding the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Children, said that when she heard the news, she was in disbelief.
“It’s great,” he said in an interview CBC Dawn. “The doctrine that makes sure we don’t exist or even be recognized…. This is one of the reasons why the relationship is broken.”
Konrad Sioui, former grand chief of the Huron-Wendat Nation, said he had long hoped the Vatican would reject the Doctrine of Discovery.
“This is the news we’ve been waiting for,” he said. “The response of the church today gives us all the hope we need because we have been robbed of our land through this. [doctrine].”
NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa asked Pope Francis to reject the 15th-century decree known as the Doctrine of Discovery when the two met last summer. Mamakwa said the move was a positive step forward, with clear language recognizing the harm done to Indigenous people. He called on the government and other institutions to respect Indigenous land rights.
“It’s time,” said Sol Mamakwa, an NDP member of the Ontario Legislature, an Anishinaabe and member of the Kingfisher Lake First Nation. He called the Doctrine of Discovery “one of the most racist colonial systems out there.”
“Absolutely, it is very important that we do this,” Mamakwa said, and one example is the release of all residential school records held by the Catholic Church and the federal government.
The Métis National Council said the Vatican’s statement of rejection signals “a new commitment by the Catholic Church to walk together in a good way.”
The council said it needed time to fully understand the statement’s “nuances and potential implications, in order to inform our collective next steps.”
In June 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission – which was formed as a means to take stock of the legacy of forced assimilation and abuse left by Canada’s residential school system – issued 94 calls to action. 49th calls on all faith groups to reject concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples.
Since then, many religious denominations and faith groups in Canada have done so.
Three papal bulls still exist
The Vatican has provided no evidence that three 15th-century papal bulls (When different in 1452, Roman Pope in 1455 and Among others in 1493) itself has been officially annulled, annulled or rejected, as Vatican officials often say. But he mentioned the next cow, God is great in 1537, which reaffirmed that Indigenous people should not be deprived of their freedom or property, and should not be enslaved.
It is significant that the rejection of the Doctrine of Discovery came during the first Latin American pontificate in history. Before his trip to Canada, the Argentine-born Francis had apologized to the indigenous people of Bolivia in 2015 for the crimes of colonial conquest in the Americas.
Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Vatican’s cultural office, said the statement was a reflection of the Vatican’s dialogue with Indigenous peoples.
“This record is part of what can be called the architecture of reconciliation and also the product of the art of reconciliation, a process where people are committed to listening to each other, talking to each other and growing in mutual understanding,” he said. in the statement.
Support is available for anyone affected by their home school experience or recent reports.
A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support to survivors and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.
Mental health counseling and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca.
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