| Canadian Report to Detail Church, State Abuse of Indian Culture
|
| Ottawa (CNS): The damage to Indian culture and individuals committed by
| church and government agents is expected to be documented in the final
| report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People, scheduled to be
| released later this year. The hint of what is to come was contained in
| the commissions's 315 page interim document on aboriginal people and
| criminal justice in Canada released Feb. 22. `In our final report we
| will deal with the damage done by government agents and missionaries in
| efforts to assimilate aboriginal people by undermining aboriginal
| institutions and cultural values,' Canadian Catholic News quoted the
| document as saying. Many of the residential schools were run by Catholic
| religious orders. The churches that operated the now-defunct schools have
| come under fire in recent years by aboriginal leaders, who said they
| helped carry out a government policy of `cultural genocide' against natives.
--If anyone hears this document is released and knows how to get a copy,
please let us know. We need an investigation like this in the US for
missions here in the past, in the present, and overseas. I say this as
someone who has worked in mission in the US and in Guatemala.
Mary Dog Soldier