Parliament’s apology should be directed elsewhere

Before getting to the heart of this letter I want to make one thing clear. I don’t practice any specific religion though I have strived for many years to practice humanism.

I’m writing today about the Canadian Parliament’s plan to ask Pope Francis to apologize in the name of the Catholic community for the destructive and inhuman undertaking that the residential schools were.

It seems to me rather strange and unfair that Canada would ask the pope to apologize for an action when it was the Canadian government who created the schools and then paid the Catholic and other faith denominations to carry out their mandate.

In this case, the churches were only carrying out the decisions of the government - decisions which may at the time have been taken under the authority or guidance of the British Crown.

It might be fairer if Parliament requested an apology from the Queen. Christiane Tanner Westmount