Pope’s Canada tour came with a minimum $55M price tag

Money could have gone to survivors, family member says

A family member of residential school survivors says the minimum $55-million price tag for the Pope’s visit to Canada last year feels like another slap in the face for Indigenous people.

“Think of all the money that could have gone to survivors, all of the money that could have gone to healing, all of the money that was rightfully supposed to be given to folks who survived genocide,” Michelle Robinson, who is Sahtu Dene, said from Calgary.

Documents obtained by The Canadian Press under freedom of information laws show the federal government spent a minimum of $55,972,683 for the leader of the Roman Catholic Church to visit Canada over six days last July.

Pope Francis apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools during stops in Alberta, Quebec and Nunavut.

Indigenous Services Canada earmarked about $30 million. Those funds were to be used for travel, local programs and healing initiatives.

Crown-Indigenous Relations spent $5.1 million, the majority for a $3.9-million contract to broadcast the papal tour’s stops, as well as translation services into Indigenous languages and French.

RCMP said, as of Feb. 24, 2023, it had spent more than $18 million, which included overtime pay, travel expenditures and accommodation costs. Global Affairs Canada spent about $2 million on travel, meetings and accommodations, plus an additional $35,728 on communication and media relations.

Public Safety Canada redacted all costs from documents obtained through access-to-information requests.

“I think all costs should be public knowledge,” Lori Campbell, the associate vice-president of Indigenous engagement at the University of Regina, said in an email.

Campbell said it’s difficult to put a dollar amount on the harm residential school caused those who attended and the intergenerational effect felt now.

An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools over a century, and the Catholic Church ran about 60 per cent of the institutions.

David Chartrand, Manitoba Métis Federation president, said in a statement that the apology was necessary to address historic wrongs.

“There is always a cost associated with hosting any foreign head of state, including Pope Francis, and it’s generally considered as part of the cost of maintaining diplomatic relations,” Chartrand said.

“Regardless, the logistical costs for the apology will never outweigh the price paid by our survivors and their families.”

Robinson added the Catholic Church has not upheld its financial obligations and now has cost Canada millions more through the Pope’s visit — so it should hold the bill.

Robinson also said that Canada’s money would be much better spent on language and culture revitalization, anti-racism training, education and supporting Indigenous people.