TORONTO – Where will the CBC – Canada’s National Broadcaster – go next in pursuit of a story now that the Pope has returned to Vatican City? Who cares, you say? You would be right, if it were not for the fact that it is a divisive, bigoted, purveyor of fake news. And it costs the taxpayer about $1.5 Billion annually (2021 federal budget figures). 

In case you missed it, the Pope, whose health condition prompted a cancellation of a series of other engagements in and out of Europe, stayed true to his commitment to Canada’s Aboriginal and Indigenous peoples (Leadership). He had promised to come expressly his offer apologies to them, in person, for the conduct of some priests and nuns at Residential Schools. He had done so already to a representative delegation that travelled to Rome in the Spring for that purpose.

Nonetheless, as part of the agreements in principle and reflective of the details hammered out in fact over the following months with those communities, the Pontiff came to Canada to convey sincerest apologies, again, in person, to a larger audience in the heart of those communities most affected and in locations of symbolic significance to them: Edmonton, Lac Ste. Anne, Quebec City, Ste Anne de Beauprè and Iqaluit.

The trip/pilgrimage was an impressive display of contrition by the Pope. Equally so was the manifest acceptance by the Aboriginal and Indigenous Leadership (Leadership). It must have made the wokist culture that pervades the CBC most unhappy.

The language of their narrative verged on the sneering when it came to “moral authority”; on the dismissive “not enough” as they sought outside proxy expertise to denigrate the importance and significance of the acts so assiduously sought by the Leadership; and, on the outright snide indifference vested in the reaction that “everyone has their own standard for reconciliation”. In fact, it seemed as if CBC reporters and on-air types went out of their way to stress that the land and culture that had been “snatched” from Canada’s native peoples was the only narrative worth following. Who asked them?

Embarrassing journalism to say the least. Finally, an Inuit lady, probably frustrated at the negative direction of the questioning, said the importance of the visit is to be noted in the fact that the Pope’s presence brought international attention to her/their place for all the world to see that they exist and that they too have dignity and their lives value.

It may be worth noting, although the CBC seems oblivious to the fact, that Residential schools were part of a Government policy and program aimed at the integration, acculturation and eventual assimilation of Canada’s Indigenous and Aboriginal peoples into the “mainstream”. No amount of deflection tactics by federal officials will change that.

This is not an attempt to whitewash blame. Several Churches were commissioned to deliver the program on the government’s behalf, the Catholic Church being the largest. The “program” officially ended with the closure of the last of these schools in the 1990s.

The issues continued to this day. Nobody would justify abuses of any type. Recently, Terry Glavin of the National Post, examined some of them raised in the Truth and Reconciliation Report Chaired by Former Senator [member of the Aboriginal community] Sinclair. Glavin investigated some of the claims and consequences that flowed from the that report and presented his own for publication. To say the least, it is an objective effort to put some of these issues in perspective, with dignity. CBC types must not have read it.

In any case, CBC pivoted to “new issues” when they realized “everyone else was warming to a semblance of renewal” between the Leadership and the Catholic Church.

Their producers ‘discovered’ a couple of youngish women who were prepared to design and unfurl a banner drawing attention to the existence of Papal Bulls that needed to be rescinded. It came as news to the Leadership, much to their embarrassment, but to the sophomoric delight of the CBC. It found yet another individual whose ‘brilliant logic’ demanded the Papacy could reset world history by rescinding their companion documents known as Documents of Discovery.

According to them, both set off the Age of Discovery and Colonization in the 15th and 16th century. That would be about 500 years ago, when aside from a few trapping outposts, the only European presence in what is now Canada were the fishing cabins on the Newfoundland Eastern coastline.

It may come as a surprise to some, but despite receiving $1.5 billion of taxpayers’ money, the CBC share of viewership dropped to less than 3.9 per cent of total (Francophones excluded) viewers across Canada in 2018-2019. A chart published by the CRTC shows a precipitous drop of 25 per cent from the previous year.

In the pic: Pope Francis with Willie Little Child (photo Catholic Press)

TO READ PREVIOUS COMMENTS: https://www.corriere.ca/english-articles