An open-letter to my Member of Parliament with respect to the deaths of 215 children at the hands of the federal government and the Catholic church

For context, you may read this article here. This was written to my Member of Parliament (MP), Don Davies, who represents my riding of Vancouver- Kingsway, which once was part of lands shared by the indigenous peoples of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō (Stolo), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam).

A copy of this letter has been sent to his mailing address. I encourage you to write to your MP about this as well, as remaining silent is a privilege of which must remain unused.

Mr. Davies,

As the white daughter of settlers, I am quite disturbed and furious that indigenous persons of the lands we occupy are once again subject to sorrow and grief at the hands of racist policies of the federal government and proselytization of the Catholic church. The discovery of two hundred and fifteen (215) dead children in a mass grave is reprehensible and any suggestion that this is remnants of a “dark past” is ignorant of the fact that indigenous persons remain a systemic underclass to this very day.

While many of the individuals responsible for the deaths of these children are now deceased, many are not and furthermore, the organizations that ran these residential schools — including the aforementioned Catholic church — are still operating and often amongst the wealthiest in the world. Dismissing the deaths of children who were as young as three years old as merely succumbing to severe illness ignores that the school had seen just about five hundred (500) pupils in its operation, suggesting that two-fifths of those who entered the school’s doors never returned home to their loved ones.

These children would have grown up into adults who would have had a measurable number of them with us living today if it weren’t for the negligence of the school. Some involved with schools adjacent to this one are still alive today in particular one who was prominent with a recent major event in Vancouver.

I am a former Catholic who left the church due to its mishandling of child abuse at the hands of its priests and its continuation to suggest that those of us in the LGBTQ+ community are “of sin”. For an organization who is quick to demonize women for having ownership over their bodies and imply that I am of sin because of who I am, they’re just as quick to attempt to sweep under the rug their responsibility of the harms they’ve made against children. I often believe that the only reason why the church responded to child abuse claims and not what it did to indigenous persons in residential schools is because it was often enough that the former victims were white.

While I cannot speak on behalf of indigenous persons, I can at the very least express my anger and resentment over our government’s token gestures and inadequate actions in taking responsibility and holding persons to account for their mistreatment. The discovery of this mass grave is just the tip of the iceberg.

Do something.

Regards,
Cariad Heather Keigher