I was not aware of this Church burning. Indigenous youth are taking a long delayed revenge against the Catholic Church for the history of the Residential Schools. Perhaps some of that anger is directed because in long negotiations years ago, the Church agreed on a compensation amount but has not yet paid it.
https://youtu.be/gxkX6NPpe14?si=ytYgb34h1gUBJ_fI Just to be fair, the Catholic Church is not entirely to blame for the Residential Schools mess. It started with the Government in those early days wanting to get young Indian children into the mainstream, educate them and bring them out of the poverty of the tribes and reservations. They did not want to take the trouble or spend the money to do it themselves so they invited the Catholic Church to do it for them. The Church at that time was all-powerful, probably had money and was tempted to come on board so that they could harvest souls and bring the heathens to the fold. Well, they did a bad job of it. They grabbed small children from their parents (with permission of the government) and put them in residential (boarding) schools. There the children had a hard life, were beaten like animals and put to work on church assets. I am not making any apologies for that church behaviour, but all of you who went through a Catholic school and religious education will testify to the sometimes ruthless control exercised over us. And we were not “heathens”. Part of that Church behaviour was probably because the Government didn’t provide the church with any money to do the job they wouldn’t do themselves. So the Indian children suffered, the Church was brought to shame for its unforgivable behaviour and the Canadian Government to this day has got its reputation tarnished internationally for the sordid historical miscarriage of justice. Everybody lost. Roland, Toronto.
