Fontaine pushes for meeting with Pope

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A recently reported private audience granted to a delegation from the Assembly of First Nations with Pope John Paul II has been postponed.

"The meeting with the Pope is not quite confirmed at this time," said Jean LaRose, spokesperson for the AFN. A meeting date had been set for Nov. 9. LaRose said the meeting date is still being worked out with Canada's foreign affairs office and Canada's ambassador to the Vatican. A request from Windspeaker for an interview with the ambassador was refused, though the ambassador's spokesperson said an emergency meeting with Fontaine occurred on Oct. 19. The ambassador's office refused to make public meeting details.

The audience with the Pope is expected to be an appeal from Fontaine for an official apology from the Roman Catholic Church for its role in the residential school system. The AFN reportedly wants a commitment from the Pope that the church will support compensation packages for residential school survivors.

Lawsuits from former students against the government of Canada and a number of churches are mounting. More than 1,000 have been initiated.

"An apology from the Pope won't impact me," said Marlin Watts, a former student at the Alberni Indian Residential School in British Columbia run by the United Church of Canada. "Compensation for the abuse is just the starting point."

Watts is currently in the midst of a precedent setting trial in Nanaimo, B.C. Court has heard of the horrendous abuses suffered by the former students who are suing the church and the federal government. The civil trial that started in February is going forward to B.C.'s Supreme Court to put the question of direct liability to rest. The United Church has failed to settle out of court with the former students and has appealed a previous court ruling that found it vicariously liable for the abuse at the school. Watts said he will not accept a blanket settlement or apology. He believes that it is an individual's right to seek redress in a manner that is right for the individual.

"It [an apology from the Pope] may have an effect on the bigger picture for churches to take more responsibility, but I don't see the Pope apologizing at this time," said Peter Grant, lawyer for the former students of the Alberni school.

That is because the Catholic Church is just starting to address the liability issue of the abuses suffered by First Nations at the residential schools they operated.|

Grant thinks the government would benefit from an apology from the Pope. It might put pressure on churches to assume more of the liability.

Grant said the Canadian government has not resisted in the way the United Church has in the Alberni case. He sees the United Church as unwilling to split the responsibility with the government on a 50-50 basis. He would like to see more mediated settlements, as in the case of the recent settlement between the Salvation Army and the federal government for former students of a northern Indian day school in British Columbia. He cites this as a positive example of shared liability.

Grant, who acted as mediator for the settlement, negotiated a program that would see former students and their families get counseling to deal with the effects of the abuse they suffered. Grant said the fact that the Salvation Army recognized it was liable and settled on a equal basis with the federal government, eased the process and shortened the time the case dragged on, so the former students could get on with their healing.