Dr. John Joe Sark

Dear Editor:

Surely, many Canadians will joyfully celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference that led up to the Confederation of Canada. However, as a Mi’kmaq person — and it is undoubtedly the sentiment of the majority of Mi’kmaq and other Indigenous Peoples of Canada – I would offer an alternate viewpoint.

It is a known fact that Canada — and all of what was to be known as the new world — was stolen from Indigenous Peoples by Christian European Nations by way of Papal Bulls issued in 1452 and 1453. Indeed, these papal documents were frequently used by Christian European conquerors in the Americas to justify an incredibly brutal system of colonization which dehumanized and slaughtered not only the Mi’kmaq People but thousands of other Indigenous Peoples in Canada and the United States. The British looked down upon indigenous people by regarding their territories as being “inhabited only by brute animals”. These Papal Bulls must be repealed as they still have a detrimental effect on the Mi’kmaq and other Indigenous People of North America and all Indigenous People in the World. It is unfathomable to me that a Pope of the Roman Catholic Church could issue Papal Bulls that are so contrary to the loving words of Jesus Christ.

King Henry VII of England granted in the year 1496, a Royal Patent to John Cabot and his sons to all lands in the New World not “discovered” by Portugal or Spain. It is kn ...

 

Tags: 1496 Royal Charter, Canada, Cape Breton, Charlottetown Conference, Christian European Nation, Church of England, Confederation of Canada, England, Jesus Christ, John Cabot, King Henry VII, Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Papal Bulls, Pope Alexander, Portugal, Spain, United States, Vatican