The church is facing demands from survivors who attended the former Mohawk Institute in Bradford, OD, to disclose any records kept abroad in the hope that they could shed light on the actual number of children who died in the boarding school and where they are buried. “Anything in the possession of the archives of the Church of England will be available,” Justin Welby told a news conference Saturday during a visit to the James Smith Creek Nation, about 200 miles northeast of Saskatoon. Welby was originally scheduled to visit the old site of the Anglican Institute, now the Woodland Cultural Center, during his trip to Canada from April 29 to May 3. Roberta Hill, a survivor of the Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford, Ont. (Bobby Christova / CBC)
The meeting was canceled, however, after survivors from the Six Nations of the Grand River, a Haudenosaunee community near Hamilton, Ont. records kept in England. “If they are not willing to do that, then there is no honesty in it,” said Roberta Hill, a member of the Survivors ‘Secretariat, a survivors’ group that leads ground research efforts at the former school. “They can not pass on to the next generations and say ‘You know what?’ We said we were sorry. “Let’s leave it at that and move on.” “No, they owe it to our community, to all our communities.”

Survivor says the truth is needed more than an apology

Welby was scheduled to meet with members of the Six Nations at the headquarters of the Anglican Church of Canada in downtown Toronto during a reception scheduled for Monday afternoon. He will no longer be able to attend due to flight cancellation. During a visit to Saskatchewan over the weekend, Welby apologized for allowing the Anglican Church to commit horrific crime, sin and misconduct in boarding schools, which he said amounted to cultural genocide. “I’m more sorry than ever to start expressing myself,” he told survivors at the James Smith Cree Nation. “How can a man abuse a child while reading the Bible and look at himself in the mirror?” The Anglican Church of Canada has twice apologized to survivors, but this is the first time the Church of England’s top archbishop has apologized. The first apology from the Canadian Church was made in 1993, then in 2019 when the leader of the Anglican Church of Canada apologized in an open letter for the church’s “cultural and spiritual arrogance”, which he said had harmed Indigenous peoples. CLOCKS The Archbishop of Canterbury apologizes:

Anglican leader apologizes for church role in allowing school abuse in homes

Canterbury Archbishop Justin Welby has apologized for the church’s role in “turning a blind eye” to the abuses suffered by survivors of Canada’s school housing system during his visit to James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. 2:54
For Hill, who attended the Mohawk Institute from 1957 to 1961 and was abused, apology is hollow. “What I want is the truth,” he said. “Something was happening in this country and it was an attack on indigenous children.” The food was so bad at the Mohawk Institute that the students called it “Mush Hole”. Children were punished for speaking their own language and forced to practice Christianity. The institution, which operated from 1828 to 1970 by the Anglican Church and the Government of Canada, was the longest-lived residential school in Canada. Between 90 and 200 children were forced to attend school each year by the Six Nations and various other communities, according to the Secretariat of Survivors.

Documents from the early days of the Mohawk Institute believed to have been kept in England

The Secretariat of Survivors sent a letter to the Church’s Primate’s Office on April 12 stating that they would be willing to meet with Welby as he prepared to discuss how the Anglican Church would provide financial support for the Native American revival. The letter also asked for help in retrieving files from the New England Company, which originally ran the Mohawk Institute, according to the secretariat. The Diocese of Huron later took over the operation of the school. Documents related to the early days of the foundation are believed to be in England. “We do not have them and yet we know that the New England Company was heavily involved in the residential school in the very early days of the Mohawk Residential School,” Hill said. “It’s part of our history.” A Six-Nations police officer is conducting a ground penetration radar search of the former Mohawk Institute’s Bradford’s former residential school on November 9, 2021. Forty-eight children died at the school, according to the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation. (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
Welby noted Saturday that the New England Company is separate from the Church of England, but has pledged to push for the release of all records from Anglican-run homes. “I will definitely use my influence to do this and push for it to happen,” he said. “I promise I will.” Hill said the documents could shed light on the burial sites of 48 children who died at the school, according to the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation. “Where are they buried?” said Hill. “We have not seen any sign … There must be responsibility.” Along with the documents, the survivors are also seeking funding to help revive the indigenous languages ​​that home schools have sought to eradicate. A man dressed in a “Every Child Matters” banner stood in front of the former Mohawk Institute’s National Residence and Reconciliation Day school on September 30, 2021. (Bobby Hristova / CBC)
“When I look at how damaging the school housing system was, it played a very important role in destroying language and culture,” Hill said. “The churches themselves are financially responsible for the aid. We must not fight with it.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury will speak to the Pope about the visit

Welby did not commit to providing this funding over the weekend. But he said he would work with Anglican bishops at the Lambeth Conference in August to decide how to support survivors in the future. “I want us to promise and perform well instead of over-promising and underperforming, which is a big part of our history,” Welby said. “The way we should start is how do we recognize what has happened, cultural genocide, how do we make sure we remember and teach and learn and then how do we see the healing process?” A plaque is displayed in front of the former Mohawk Institute’s residential school in Bradford, OD, on June 24, 2021. (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
The Anglican Church had 36 residential schools – most after the Roman Catholic Church – and more than 150 day schools in India between 1820 and 1969. The Anglican Church of Canada also paid $ 15.7 million, as required by the Indian School Housing Settlement. The church was reimbursed $ 2.8 million, which it said it had invested in indigenous service programs after negotiating a different compensation formula with the Roman Catholic Church. The Secretariat of Survivors proposed to postpone the visit of the Archbishop in order to give time for the development of appropriate protocols for natives. The Office of the Prelate replied that the visit would not be on the agenda and, if a future visit was desired, a direct invitation from the Six Nations would be required. Welby’s visit comes just months before Pope Francis is expected to visit Canada in July to promote reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. The couple is scheduled to visit South Sudan shortly before the Pope travels to Canada. “I will have the opportunity to discuss with him what I learned from this,” Welby said.