Innu inclusion misleads

Page 5

Dear Editor:

The recent article on the Indian residential schools issue ("Who's really to blame?-Windspeaker, April 2001) misrepresents important facts.

In particular, reference to the abuse of Innu children in Labrador by clergy, which occupies fully one-third of the article, is misplaced and misleading. It is misplaced in an article that purports to be about residential schools. The children are not alleged to have been abused in a school setting because there were no schools in Labrador. Inclusion of the Labrador situation has the appearance of adding substance, but is, in reality, merely unrelated padding.

It is misleading in the way in which the Labrador situation is handled. The claim by Yvonne Maes that the church covered up allegations of child abuse by a particular priest was wrong. Ms. Maes is referring to events that are alleged to have happened approximately 40 years ago. Because of concerns expressed in the community, Ms. Maes was asked by the late Bishop Goudreault to investigate. This she did, and reported to the Bishop with recommendations for action; some of which he did not accept. This may have disappointed Ms. Maes, but does not constitute a cover-up.

No criminal charges have been laid related to these allegations even though Ms. Maes claims to have information that would at least warrant an investigation.

In my view, this situation represents yet another persistent, unsubstantiated accusation. The bishop of that time dealt with the matter in the only way it could have been dealt with. Since that time the current Bishop of Labrador City-Schefferville has been in the community of Sheshatshiu on a number of occasions and has met with members of the community, the president of the Innu Nation and with the chief.

On these occasions he has expressed his openness to address issues related to the concerns Ms. Maes has.

There was no cover-up. Windspeaker is not doing the issue of residential schools abuse any useful service by including unrelated issues such as that in Labrador and then treating them in manner that ignores most of the relevant facts.

Gerry Kelly

Co-ordinator, Catholic Task Group on Residential Schools