‘I want him to understand how we feel’: Survivors look to Pope’s visit

This article contains details about child abuse and sexual abuse that might be difficult for some readers.

It’s a story Piita Irniq has told again and again.

The first time was in 1989 when, in a member’s statement to the Northwest Territories legislative assembly, the then 42-year-old MLA spoke of his loss of language and culture in Canada’s residential school system.

Irniq spoke of the clergy’s alleged sexual abuse of young men in Chesterfield Inlet, where Sir Joseph Bernier Federal Day School opened in 1951. Irniq, now 75, grew up around Naujaat, and attended the school.

He also demanded the Catholic Church take accountability and apologize for its role in the residential school system in Nunavut.

With Pope Francis scheduled to arrive in Canada Sunday for a weeklong visit, Irniq and other victims of abuse by Roman Catholic clergy are sharing their stories again.

Francis is expected to apologize for the church’s role in Canada’s residential school system. He already apologized in April at the Vatican. But a papal apology in Canada is one of the 94 calls to action in the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report.

While Francis is in Canada, a lot of northerners will also be watching to see if he says anything about the criminal charge against Rev. Johannes Rivoire, a parish priest accused of abusing Inuit children more than 50 years ago.

It’s estimated that at least 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children attended nearly 139 residential schools that operated in Canada for a little more than a century, from the 1880s until, in some cases, the late 1990s. It was a government-sanctioned program aimed to separate Indigenous young people from their language and culture by removing them from their families and communities.

“We talked a lot at that time about Chesterfield Inlet. We were talked at a lot by the people, by the churchgoers, church members themselves,” Irniq said.

Piita Irniq, pictured at his home in Ottawa in July, says Pope Francis’ apology needs to be meaningful when he visits Canada next week. (Photo courtesy of Piita Irniq)

He, along with Jack Anawak and Marius Tungilik, helped lead the push to get Roman Catholic Bishop Reynald Rouleau to apologize in 1996 in Igloolik for the church’s role in the residential school system.

Most recently, Irniq has fought to have Father Rivoire face allegations he sexually abused children in Nunavut.

Though Father Rivoire did not work in the residential school system, he was a priest in Chesterfield Inlet, Arviat, Naujaat, Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet in the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1998, the RCMP laid multiple charges against Rivoire for alleged sexual assaults against Inuit children in Naujaat and Arviat, between 1968 and 1970. He left Canada in 1993 before those charges could be tried in court.

The charges were stayed in 2017, when the Public Prosecution Service of Canada concluded there was no longer a reasonable prospect of conviction. Rivoire, who is now 91, lives in France.

In February of this year, police charged him again, this time with a sole count of committing sexual assault against a girl in Arviat and Whale Cove between 1974 and 1979.

In March, Pope Francis met with delegates of Inuit, Métis and First Nations at the Vatican, where he apologized for the role some Roman Catholic clergy played in abuses that occurred in the residential school system.

It’s expected he will apologize again during his visit to Canada next week which begins in Edmonton on Sunday. The papal visit includes a stop in Iqaluit on July 29.

Piita Irniq, standing in the back row on the far left, poses for a photo at Sir Joseph Bernier Federal Day School in Chesterfield Inlet in 1962. (Photo courtesy of Piita Irniq)

One of Rivoire’s alleged victims says the Pope’s apology, in addition to admitting to the church’s role in residential schools, also needs to acknowledge the pain and intergenerational trauma caused by the church’s presence in the community in general.

“I want him to understand how we feel, as Inuit, we’ve been treated as if we’re nothing to them,” she said.

“They weren’t helping … they were participating in sexual abuse. It’s not right.”

Her own story alleging abuse by Rivoire goes back 47 years, to when she was a child and attended the church where he worked.

“I was six years old. He started doing these things to me when I was six,” the woman said through tears.

“That was the worst thing that happened in my life. The pain, I was yelling, screaming, crying. He was telling me to keep quiet, I couldn’t keep quiet.”

Nunatsiaq News is not naming the woman because her identity is protected by a court-imposed publication ban. Nunavut RCMP issued a Canada-wide warrant for Rivoire’s arrest in February after he was charged with the historic sexual assault of the woman.

“It was so painful. That was the worst pain I had in my life. I never forget. I never forget what he did to me,” she said.

For Irniq, the Pope’s visit to Canada to apologize is long overdue.

“It’s about time,” he said.

He said he has high hopes for the apology, and feels survivors should be at the centre of any ceremony or speech when the Pope is in Iqaluit on July 29.

“I hope he will apologize for the cultural genocide that his church was responsible for at [Sir] Joseph Federal Day School … I hope he will talk about healing and reconciliation from the Roman Catholic Church’s point of view,” he said.

“So far, us survivors have been the ones talking about healing and reconciliation.”

Beyond an apology, Irniq wants to see Inuit culture on full display when the Pope arrives, including drum dancing, throat singing and what he describes as an Inuit fashion show.

“I would like to see the organizers of the event show what Inuit were about when we were taken away,” he said.

“When I was taken away, I was dressed in sealskin boots and had fur coats. They gave us manufactured southern clothes and they took away our traditional clothing. I want a sealskin and caribou fashion show.”

Ultimately, Irniq said he wants to see the institution that took so much away from him give something back to Inuit in Nunavut.

“I would like to see the Roman Catholic Church provide money for education in Inuktitut … With the apology needs to come financial compensation for the loss of culture, for the loss of language and address the issue of sexual abuse by the clergy,” he said.

“This is a one-time visit and we have to take advantage of it and we have to tell the Pope what we want.”

Resources are available for people experiencing emotional trauma from abuse at residential and day schools and their families.

Residential School Survivors Help Line: 1-866-866-925-4419

Inuit and First Nations Hope for Wellness: 1-855-242-3310

Nunavut Kamatsiaqtut Help Line: 1-800-265-3333

Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868  or  Text 686868  and type “TALK” to start talking to a counsellor

Nunavut Victim Services: 1-866-456-5216

Healing By Talking: 1-867-975-5367 or healing@gov.nu.ca

Indian Residential School Counselling programs are available through:
Illisaqsivik: 867-924-6565
Pulaarvik Kablu Friendship Centre: 867-645-2600
Tukisigiarvik Wellness Centre: 867-979-2400
Cambridge Bay Wellness Centre: 867-983-4670