Warning: This story deals with disturbing subject matter that may upset and trigger some readers. Discretion is advised.
Italian filmmaker Raffaele Manco watched in horror from Rome as 215 unmarked burial sites — likely the remains of children — were detected on First Nations land in Canada.
The gut-wrenching news from Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc in British Columbia last spring made headlines around the world, a painful reminder that Canada’s residential school system was deadly for thousands of Indigenous children.
The disclosure prompted in-depth searches of former school sites that have since detected more than 1,800 possible or confirmed unmarked graves across the country.
As he scoured online article after article, it also moved Manco so deeply he decided to make a film.
“It was the last of many things that impacted me,” he said in Rome, his camera equipment sprawled over the nearest table at a hotel not far from the Colosseum. “The consequences of colonialism are not in the past. It’s something that’s here today and is not considered enough.”
Director and filmmaker Raffaele Manco and Italian journalist Irene Sicurella have teamed up to produce a 45-minute documentary on Canadian residential schools and intergenerational trauma. It will air this summer on the national Italian investigative news program PresaDiretta.
Since Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc’s tragedy, the world has been watching Canada’s reconciliation story unfold.
Half a dozen international media outlets dispatched reporters to cover the historic delegation to Rome between March 28 and April 1, including Manco and his documentary film partner, Italian journalist Irene Sicurella.
Residential schools are a new topic for many Europeans, Sicurella explained, but the travelling Indigenous delegation has brought the grisly truth of them straight into their backyards.
“It’s strange for us because we work, like, 10 minutes away from the Vatican,” she said, sitting next to Manco in a quiet hallway of the delegation’s hotel in Rome.
“The Catholic Church has been one of the main (institutions) responsible, so I think it’s simply right to ask some questions.”
5:12 Responding to the Pope’s apology for residential schools
Responding to the Pope’s apology for residential schools – Apr 4, 2022
More than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were imprisoned in residential schools, the majority of which were run by the federal government and Catholic Church.
In the care of priests and nuns, countless thousands suffered horrific physical, sexual and spiritual abuse. Many thousands also died from neglect, disease, malnutrition and other causes, and the whereabouts of some of their remains are unknown.
Residential schools, however, are not an assimilation tactic unique to Canada.
Around the world, various boarding and day school models have been used by governments and missionaries to erase Indigenous cultures. Over the past 400 years, such institutions have existed in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Greenland and several countries in Northern Europe, where Sami peoples were forbidden from speaking their languages.
In between sunrise ceremonies, rehearsals and private audiences with Pope Francis, Indigenous delegates in Rome said they knew survivors around the world would be watching, searching for a glimmer of hope.
Katsitsionni Fox, an Akwesasne Mohawk spiritual advisor who was sent to Rome by her clan mother, said she hoped they could provide one.
“We’ve all gone through the same thing,” she told Global News. “You can talk to Aboriginal people in Australia and they’ll tell you they have the same stories that our relatives have, so hopefully it’s a step in that direction to help them out as well.”
After Pope Francis issued his controversial apology on April 1, Fox ended a livestreamed press conference from Rome with a haunting and beautiful tribute to the victims and survivors of residential schools, a song called Sky World.
Katsitsionni Fox, a spiritual advisor for the Indigenous delegation to Rome, sings ‘Sky World,’ in honour of residential school victims and survivors, at the delegation’s final press conference on April 1, 2022.
Elizabeth McSheffrey/Global News
There are an estimated 370 million to 500 million Indigenous people in more than 90 countries around the world. Countless among them seek reparation for centuries of land theft and abuse, but few have ever secured an audience with the Pope.
After the delegation, Phil Fontaine joined an even smaller group of people who can say they’ve done it twice. To those still seeking justice, his message was “obviously, not to give up.”
“There is just so much public attention to the plight of Indigenous peoples worldwide,” Fontaine, a residential school survivor, said in front of St. Peter’s Square, where he met Pope Benedict in 2009.
“Without a doubt, the 215 unmarked graves in Kamloops is a pivotal moment because it shocked the nation and put Canada, before the eyes of the world.”
2:16 ‘The world is watching’: Indigenous leader Phil Fontaine’s mission to get a papal apology
‘The world is watching’: Indigenous leader Phil Fontaine’s mission to get a papal apology – Mar 30, 2022
After Métis representatives concluded their meeting with the pontiff on March 28, Edmonton-based cultural facilitator Gary Gagnon said his Native American friends have been following the Canadian delegation “extremely closely.”
They would be tuning in for the meeting on April 1, he added, when Pope Francis addressed a general audience of more than 200 survivors, elders, knowledge keepers, leaders and youth from Canada.
“I know there’s some movement down there right now,” Gagnon said over the sound of Métis fiddlers by St. Peter’s Square. “They’re going to determine what they’re going to do after these meetings.”
Gary Gagnon, a cultural facilitator, member of the Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council and vice-president for Region 4 of the Métis Nation of Alberta, poses for a photo in Rome on March 28, 2022, after Métis delegates met Pope Francis.
Progress made by First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples in Rome has already caught the attention of survivors in the United States. On April 1, when Pope Francis asked forgiveness for the “deplorable conduct” of some Catholic Church members, the National Native American Boarding School Society issued an online statement right away.
The Minneapolis-based organization called on the Catholic Church and other religious denominations to now “turn to the atrocities” committed on American soil during the “Indian Boarding School policy era.”
“Acknowledging harm in one country while not taking similar, measurable steps in another country continues to perpetuate the harm against Native American, Alaska Native, and other Indigenous survivors of boarding schools and their descendants,” it wrote.
“We look forward to hearing a response and further details from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops about their efforts in the United States to address the harms committed here.”
2:58 Woman from B.C. tried to raise awareness during Papal talks of an often-ignored issue
Woman from B.C. tried to raise awareness during Papal talks of an often-ignored issue – Apr 3, 2022
As the Canadian delegates have done, the coalition called on the Catholic Church and other religious organizations to release all records pertaining to the assimilative institutions in the U.S. and revoke the Doctrine of Discovery. It also called for churches to endorse the launch of a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies.
Meanwhile, Manco and Sicurella are planning a reporting trip to Canada to gather content for the documentary. The story will be rooted in Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc but will include First Nations in Alberta and Manitoba as well.
“I think we have a one-way narrative about Canada and that is the country of tolerance and integration, where everybody is welcome,” said Sicurella, in between translating Manco’s comments in Italian.
“Also our network has talked about Canada in this way and only in this way, so I don’t think many people know about this.”
Manco, who has a history of film production on human rights topics, said their “passion” for the topic convinced their employer to fund the documentary. It will air this summer on the investigative news program of PresaDiretta, a national Italian television network.
“I’m very moved about all of this and how systematic it was,” said Sicurella. “It was a huge human rights violation and it doesn’t have to happen again in the future.”
Residential school survivors have asked to be directly involved in planning Pope Francis’s undated trip to Canada. The pontiff has not committed to apologize on Canadian soil, but rather said he looked forward to being “able to better express” his closeness to Indigenous Peoples.
The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line (1-866-925-4419) is available 24 hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their residential school experience.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia‘s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
