Catholics pull out of AMC residential school group

Page R3

Representatives from the Catholic Church have withdrawn from a joint Aboriginal committee investigating the legacy of residential schools in Manitoba.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Joint Working Group on Residential School

was established in December 1990 to examine the effects of residential schools on First Nations and propose methods for healing.

But last month political battles between Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) and church representatives escalated into a pitched media war, with accusations of bad faith flying from both parties.

The first volley was fired by Father Claude Blanchette, chairman of the Catholic Bishops Advisory Committee on Native Issues in Manitoba.

In a September 15 letter to Grand Chief Phil Fontaine, Blanchettte accused the AMC dominating the group and creating an atmosphere of disrespect toward the Catholic Church.

"We feel we are being manipulated and intentionally embarrassed," Blanchette wrote in the letter.

In an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press, Blanchette elaborated.

"We willingly went along for the first part, thinking that we could open this up

and create something much more objective and global," he stated. "We came to the conclusion that this was absolutely impossible."

In a September 21 press conference, Fontaine denounced the actions of the Bishops Advisory Committee as a "cynical attempt to discredit the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs."

He went on to question their commitment to the initiative from the outset, and accused the Bishop's Advisory Committee of having disrupted and obstructed the working group's progress throughout.

"The key departure point appears to be who controls the process of healing and our proposition is very simple," Fontaine said in a radio interview. "It has to be controlled by First Nations people with the support of the people that acted as agents for government in this very painful experience."

The remaining members of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Joint Working Group on Residential Schools include representatives from the Anglican, Presbyterian and United Churches, as well as representatives from Indian Affairs and Health and Welfare Canada. The Indigenous Women's Collective also has representatives.