Denounce Church Burnings and Stop the On-going Desecration of Graves in Historic Catholic Community Graveyard at Blue Quills First Nation
by Michelle Stirling ©2024
An Open Letter to the Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and the Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs, Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada and Minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
Cc: His Holiness Pope Francis, Vatican City
Your Holiness and Honorable Ministers,
Re: Denounce Church Burnings and Stop the On-going Desecration of Graves in Historic Catholic Community Graveyard at Blue Quills First Nation
Note: These are my opinions based on a review of historical evidence.
Recent news reports and press conferences given by the Blue Quills First Nation Acimowin Opaspiw Society (AOS) reveal that there has been on-going desecration of graves in the historic cemetery, formerly attached to the Sacred Heart Mission on the Saddle Lake Reserve (renamed Blue Quills) since 2004. One report indicates there are at least 100 instances of finding child skeletal remains in the graveyard.
Disturbing human remains is contrary to Canadian criminal law and to all Catholic and Christian tenets. To be precise: Section 182 of the CC makes it a crime to “improperly interfere” with human remains.
Crown-Indigenous Affairs appears to support this desecration, issuing a statement in one news report saying:
“For too long, Indigenous Peoples were ignored when they spoke the truth about Canada’s colonial past, but we are listening now and we believe you. Canada believes you.
“That is why our government will continue supporting Saddle Lake Cree Nation, and other communities across Canada, in locating and commemorating their children, at their own pace and however they see fit.”
The graves being desecrated are those of Catholics who lived in the region of the then Sacred Heart Mission. That is the truth.
Based on comments by Marc Miller, it is ‘ghoulish’ for anyone to require evidence of the claimed Indian Residential School ‘genocide.’ But somehow it is fine by Crown-Indigenous Affairs to encourage wanton digging in graveyards for alleged missing children, resulting in the ghoulish excavation of people long dead. Indeed, digging in the federal archives would be the more appropriate place to go first, as that is where all the records of children attending Indian Residential Schools are located.
https://twitter.com/MarcMillerVM/status/1486770306777858053
For those readers who may be unfamiliar with what is at issue here, some Indigenous activists claim the Indian Residential Schools constituted genocide claiming that students were “forcibly removed from their homes” and that thousands of children mysteriously died there and are missing — “the children who never made it home.” None of these claims have been proven.
There is no list of missing persons names.
The evidence shows that students were voluntarily enrolled in Indian Residential Schools by their parents; schools also took in orphans or children from destitute/dysfunctional homes on a charitable basis, and while a small number of children died over the course of 113 years and 150,000 students, their deaths were due to general illness, accident, tuberculosis or epidemic. Records show that death certificates were issued, parents typically signed the certificate, and the children’s bodies were returned for burial on the family reserve. An inquest was performed in the case of accidental death at school. This is all documented in the Department of Indian Affairs records.
Blue Quills AOS was given access by the diocese of St Paul to the parish records for the Sacred Heart parish church near the former Blue Quills Indian Residential School. Based on those records, AOS now claims there are three mass graves at the former school, even though the cemetery next to the Sacred Heart parish church was obviously the Sacred Heart Mission’s community graveyard.
But in fact those very parish records prove the AOS spokesperson wrong because there are no back-to-back burials in the parish records which would establish that many lives had been claimed within a short space of time by a disease epidemic or some other cause.
This was stated in the Alberta Native News article of 30 March 2023 which says:
In order to account for a mass grave, the records would have to include a “number of back-to-back deaths within a 1–4 week period, buried on the same day or within a short time period,” the report notes.
The AOS spokesperson then said, “There’s nothing like that in the records.”
In other words, there’s nothing in the parish records of Sacred Heart church on the Saddle Lake Reserve to indicate that there was any event (such as a disease epidemic) which would have resulted in a mass grave.
None-the-less, Blue Quills AOS continue to claim the children’s bones disturbed by their gravediggers to be mass graves of children who attended the Indian Residential School from 1898–1931 when it was on site (in 1931 the school moved to a new location near St Paul).
Unfortunately, it appears the AOS have mistaken the full list of deceased in the local church’s sacramental records for names of all attendees at the Indian Residential School. They thus claim now that about 400 children are missing; in fact, the Department of Indian Affairs records show that over the course of the ~30 years the school was in operation there, only 45 to a maximum of 76 children (reached in 1928) who attended per year; many would have been at the school for several consecutive years. Some children were from other regional reserves. The fact that numbers of students grew over the years suggests that parents were ever more willing to send their children to school for education or care.
Sadly, some of the children did die while attending Indian Residential School. Tuberculosis was the greatest killer of all Canadians until about the 1940s when vaccines and antibiotics became available. Again, Department of Indian Affairs records and provincial death certificates show that for all students who died while attending this school, there are death certificates which independent researcher Nina Green has found, for all but one individual.
These documents show cause of death (typically Tuberculosis, which was globally endemic at the time), signature of a parent or guardian, and that the body was returned to the child’s family reserve for burial there.
The federal government should be the last to approve of the digging up of graves at Blue Quills because the federal government knows there are no missing children. It is cruel to continue this charade.
The Department of Indian Affairs Annual reports for all the years Blue Quills was in existence at Saddle Lake (1898–1931) contain enrolment figures. The foregoing numbers from a spreadsheet drawn from Department of Indian Affairs reports show the numbers of children in attendance. Thus, the federal government must be aware that it is not the graves of missing children who are being dug up at Blue Quills. It’s the graves of parishioners, some of them children, properly buried with the rites of the Catholic Church many years ago, almost certainly by their own families.
The on-going hype which claims historic, forgotten, unmarked community graves are ‘evidence’ of genocide, a false claim supported and promoted by federal officials and even the Prime Minister himself, has led to the vandalism and arson of over 90 churches and related Christian facilities in Canada.
Indeed, today it is clear that the false claim of ‘mass graves’ at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School was exploited to push through Bill C-15, United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). This legislation had stalled while six provinces had resisted, requesting clarification of key terms such as what constituted ‘prior, free, informed consent.’ UNDRIP has been rejected by the USA, Australia and New Zealand, colonial nations which had engaged in bloody conflicts with Indigenous people — something that did not happen in Canada, with the exception of the short-lived Riel Rebellion. Indeed, Indian Wars in the US raged from 1644 to 1924!
Yet, it is Canada, falsely accused of genocide.
Canadians have been deceived and Confederation turned upside down over false claims of a phantom genocide at Kamloops which led to the coercive passing of UNDRIP into law.
In Crown-Indigenous Minister’s mandate letter, the Prime Minister states: “We know that reconciliation cannot come without truth and our Government will continue to invest in that truth.”
The truth is that bodies will be found in graveyards where the people were buried, properly, over the course of the time the Mission was there. This is not evidence of genocide.
Those resting in peace for decades, long forgotten by the community that now suddenly claims to care about them, should not be disturbed to find the ghoulish evidence of bodies.
The truth is, the claimed shallow graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School appear to be Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) discoveries of the clay tiles of an abandoned septic trench, not children’s graves.
In the Judeo-Christian faith:
No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence. Psalm 101:7
Crown-Indigenous Relations Ministers should publicly denounce the criminal acts of church burnings and vandalism. Vitriolic retribution is not reconciliation.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Ministers should clarify that these community church graveyards served every kind of regional Christian/Catholic family in historic times. Christians needed and wanted their loved ones to be buried in sanctified grounds with appropriate rites. To Rest In Peace. Not to be desecrated and not to have their houses of worship burned down.
These are graves of Christian citizens of Canada, Indigenous Catholics, European Catholic immigrants and Metis Catholics.
By your silence — the federal government is encouraging more desecration of churches.
A Catholic colleague writes me that this week features a rarity in that Ash Wednesday, which begins the penitential season of Lent, and St. Valentine’s, are on the same day.
The ‘haters’ who are trying to make ‘ashes’ of the Church do not realize the Church is its people, not just it’s buildings.
My Catholic friend explains that St. Valentine was a Roman priest put to death for his Christian Faith. One of the earliest Catholic martyrs, his feast was not originally dedicated to romantic or ‘erotic’ love like it is today.
While Father Valentine was awaiting his execution, in a Roman prison, he could hear the cries of fellow Christians in their cells. He sent them notes of encouragement, emphasizing the love of Christ, a self-giving sacrificial love, and these letters became known as ‘valentines’.
The priests, nuns and other clergy and staff who worked at Indigenous Residential Schools were attempting to put the self-less ‘agape’ love, that was exemplified by Christ’s sufferings, into practice.
As historian Robert Carney said (father of the more famous Mark Carney, former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor) in his critique of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples report, “But unlike most other boarding schools whose objective was to school children in a highly controlled residential setting, Aboriginal boarding schools were multipurpose institutions that took in many children who suffered from various forms of social, emotional and physical distress. The chapter contends that these “social welfare” functions did not become prevalent until a decade or two before the schools were closed. The fact is that Aboriginal residential schools always played a major role in caring for children in need….. It would have been fair to acknowledge [in the Royal Commission report] that many traditional [Indian Residential School] boarding schools, in some cases well into the twentieth century, took in sick, dying, abandoned, orphaned, physically and mentally handicapped children, from newborns to late adolescents, as well as adults who asked for refuge and other forms of assistance.”
Not only Robert Carney, but Murray Sinclair, Wilton Littlechild, Phil Fontaine, the Oblate Apology of 1991, and Pope Francis, are all on the record highlighting the dedicated service of the Catholic clergy who administered most of the Indigenous Residential Schools.
The self-giving sacrificial love of thousands of priests, nuns, other clergy and staff, many of whom were Indigenous caregivers — their devotion to their small charges and commitment to their sacred work has been denigrated by rumors. Their reputations destroyed by unsubstantiated claims and irresponsible media reporting.
Indigenous Catholics have been shocked by the false claims of ‘genocide’ and many have turned away from the Church, at a time in Canadian history when people of faith need their community support.
Canada was once famous for its peace, order and good government; our Charter of Rights states: “Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law…”
The government of the day has both abandoned G-d and rule of law by funding and encouraging gravedigging instead of archival research; by exploiting the unsupported claim of ‘genocide’ and remaining silent on the burning of churches — or saying, “…it’s understandable.”
No. It is not understandable. This is criminal activity, and you must denounce it.
The claim of ‘genocide’ is unfounded. In a country of rule of law, people and the Church are innocent until proven guilty.
And vigilante retribution like church burning is not reconciliation.
Those who set up and ran the Indian Residential Schools in Canada were dedicated people of faith — but being human, despite their sincere motivation, some individuals were flawed, and from today’s present worldview, their efforts were imperfect.
Imperfect, but not worth burning Churches over!
Those who served in their sacred duties gave decades of their lives, saving orphans and sheltering thousands of children who were destitute, hungry or not safe at home.
Minister Anandasangaree and Minister Vandal, over 50% of Canadians are Christians and Catholics. You must denounce the church burnings and vandalism and stop the wanton desecration of historic graveyards, like that of Sacred Heart/Blue Quills. You must enforce rule of law!
For Catholics burdened with grief and distress, for Indigenous people traumatized by the false claims of genocide at Indian Residential School — consider this a Valentine’s Day note, to uplift you and lead you to the light of truth.
Sincerely,
Michelle Stirling
NOTE: Edited at 7:58 pm Feb 12, 2024 to clarify that these are my opinions based on historical records, and to clarify that Section 182 of the CC makes it a crime to “improperly interfere” with human remains.
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Michelle Stirling is a former member of the Canadian Association of Journalists. She researched, wrote, and co-produced historical shows about Southern Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Hugh Dempsey.
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