NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
NWT Bishop Mark Hagemoen supported Alberta bishops last week by adding his voice to an apology issued by that province's Catholic leadership to residential school survivors.

NWT Bishop Mark Hagemoen: "The reconciliation process and the healing process is important to the Catholic Church and the Mackenzie Diocese."

Alberta bishops were the last in the national Catholic community to issue an official letter of apology and regret, while it marked the second time an NWT bishop extended the hand of healing to those who suffered in the Catholic Church-run government schools. Bishop - now archbishop - Murray Chatlain made a formal apology two years ago during a Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission event in Inuvik.

"The reconciliation process and the healing process is important to the Catholic Church and the Mackenzie Diocese," said Hagemoen, adding the timing of the Alberta apology was a lead up to the final truth and reconciliation commission event scheduled in Edmonton from March 27 to 30 at the Shaw Conference Centre.

Hagemoen said he hopes the apology, which consolidates the Catholic community across Canada in its expression of regret for its role in residential schools, will add to the healing of those still suffering.

"We are adding our voice to those of the Catholic bishops and leaders of religious communities across Canada who have already expressed words of apology and regret. We, the Catholic Bishops of Alberta and Northwest Territories, apologize to those who experienced sexual and physical abuse in residential schools under Catholic administration. We also express our apology and regret for Catholic participation in government policies that resulted in children being separated from their families, and often suppressed aboriginal culture and language at the residential schools," part of letter reads.

Hagemoen, who took over for Bishop Murray Chatlain in December, said the Mackenzie Diocese is committed to being a part of the healing journey for residential school survivors, especially, he added, considering 70 per cent of the population is aboriginal.

"Everything we do in the diocese ... it's always touched and affected by the residential school legacy," he said."It's a complicated issue and we need to continue in the various parts of the country to speak to the issue. Healing takes time and I welcome this apology."

David Poitras, a residential school survivor and a former chief of the Salt River First Nation, also welcomed the apology.

"I think it reinforces they are sorry and they are trying to repent for the past," he said.

Poitras said he can't speculate how other survivors might react to the apology because the range of emotion and progress toward healing is so varied.

"For myself, I have gone through a lot of healing and I reconciled my past," he said.

It is that journey that he said helps him accept the apology from the Catholic church.

"I go to church now but there was a time when I wouldn't go near it," he said.

However he added that many people need help finding the path he did and although there have been healing workshops and retreats there are those who are falling through the cracks.

"If they put some money behind that apology it would be a really good start and make it more believable," he said. "They are not reaching the people on the streets and those are the ones who need to believe it is possible to heal."

But money and programs can only go so far, Poitras said, adding there also needs to be a will and commitment from the individual.

"The biggest step I made in my healing was to get sober," he said, admitting the process was very slow and without that personal commitment he would never where he is today.

"I encourage people to look at healing even if it looks scary," he said. "I could have stayed in the hurt, but I didn't like that place."

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