Trudeau condescendingly tried to make papal visit all about him

National Post, 05 August 2022

The government, like the prime minister, always thinks that more of itself is what Indigenous Canadians need

Looking back on the papal visit, the prime minister’s conduct deserves further attention. Certainly, the prime minister himself thought himself worth maximum attention.

Pope Francis came on what he called a “pilgrimage of penance.” The prime minister came with pride and pretense. The contrast was evident at the Citadelle of Quebec City

Pope Francis was confined to his wheelchair. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, tall, fit, strong, towered over him. But it was clear who the smaller man was.

The protocol arrangements had assigned the Governor General to speak on behalf of Canada, not the prime minister. After all, it was at her residence. But Trudeau demanded to have his say. And so he did.

“Survivors and their descendants need to be at the centre of everything we do together going forward,” Trudeau said. But in the present, the prime minister wanted to talk about himself, with a half dozen references to his own presence in various places. He even mentioned where he was during the papal apology at Maskwacis, because, after all, it was important that everyone know where he was.

It was a vainglorious performance. The next day at Ste. Anne to Beaupre, Trudeau glad-handed his way into the “Mass of Reconciliation,” reaching into the crowd as if he was campaigning at yet another summer photo-op. While the pope spoke repeatedly about shame, the prime minister was simply shameless.

Narcissism is hardly news, but during the papal visit the prime minister’s deportment reflected an odd disposition from the federal government. The government seemed to adopt the position of moral arbiter, arrogating to itself the role of determining whether Catholic contrition was sufficient.

Pope Francis pointedly noted, in his response to the prime minister, that the “deplorable system” of residential schools, was “promoted by the governmental authorities of the time.” Catholic institutions are right to apologize for their role in it, but the government conceived it, implemented it, mandated it, (under-) funded it and regulated it.

Trudeau lectured the pope on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), even though the federal government’s record has been spotty at best.

Trudeau’s principal initiative on Indigenous affairs has been to create two cabinet ministries rather than just one. The last thing Canada’s Indigenous peoples need is more help from the government; the residential schools themselves are but one aspect of how state bureaucracy has stifled the agency, creativity and liberty that non-Indigenous Canadians enjoy.

The government, like the prime minister, always thinks that more of itself is what Indigenous Canadians need. Even the TRC was another government commission.

One of the stranger aspects of the papal visit was the posturing of a prime minister and government — a federal Liberal government — that is in no moral position to do so.

Recall the protest sign at Ste. Anne de Beaupre which called for Pope Francis to “rescind the doctrine (of discovery).” That’s a historical reference that brings more heat than light, but suffice it to say that the papal “doctrine” — which it never was — was already rescinded by papal decree in 1537:

“Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property … and that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and the possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect.”

Pope John Paul II explicitly repeated that on his visit to Canada’s Indigenous peoples in 1987, the 450th anniversary of the decree.

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