March 28, 2022

NunatuKavut Inuit not represented by Canadian Indigenous delegation to the Vatican

Today, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) issued a news release about how the Indigenous delegation to Rome is missing off-reserve Indigenous perspective in discussions on residential schools. Here is a a link to the release.

President Todd Russell issued the following statement in response to CAP’s release:

“On behalf of the NunatuKavut Community Council, I thank the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples for speaking up for the many Indigenous Peoples not represented by three of the National Indigenous Organizations that are part of this week’s meetings with Pope Francis around residential schools. The experiences of NunatuKavut Inuit, for example, are not being represented by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami or any other Indigenous group present at the meetings. The impacts of residential schools on families throughout NunatuKavut are significant and have left all of us with many generations of healing work to come. We urge the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and participating organizations to consider these realities and take steps to not perpetuate colonial processes of exclusion and denial of culture, which have been core to the mandate of residential schools. We must ensure that the experiences of NunatuKavut Inuit in residential schools are recognized, validated, respected and honoured. This is a critical part of healing and reconciliation.”