We acknowledge that the vast territory upon which the Diocese of Quebec today stands includes the traditional lands of the Abenaki, Atikamekw, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Innu, Mi'kmaq, Naskapi, and Wolastoqiyik First Nations.
For many thousands of years before the arrival of Anglicans, these Indigenous peoples sought to walk gently upon this land, in communion with their Creator. Many offered assistance to the first European travellers to this territory and shared their knowledge for survival in a hostile climate. In return they have often been marginalized on their own traditional lands, subjected to cultural imperialism, and generally disenfranchised as a people.
Commission of Canada, we seek a new relationship with the Original Peoples of this land, one based in honour and respect. We also acknowledge our own church’s complicity in the residential schools system and its intergenerational aftermath, and are pledged to walking with Indigenous members of our church on a path of reconciliation and self-determination.
On Friday, August 6th, 1993, Archbishop Michael Peers issued an apology on behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada. You can find a printout of the detailed address to the left of the display.
This display provides a historical timeline of Residential schools in Canada. Additionally, you can find some details and artefacts about the relationship between the Naskapi people and the Diocese of Quebec. The church wants to contribute to truth-telling and healing for and with the Original Peoples of this land.
“I accept and I confess before God and you, our failures in the residential schools. We failed you. We failed ourselves. We failed God.” declare the Primate (1986-2004), Archbishop Michael Peers at the National Native Convocation in Minaki, Ontario in 1993.