Just over a month after they unsuccessfully asked the same of the Pope, the First Nations Leadership Council is calling on Canada’s new monarch to renounce the Doctrine of Discovery.
That Doctrine, issued by the Catholic Church in the 15th century, gave Canada’s early European settlers legal claims over Indigenous lands.
During a papal visit to Canada in July, many Indigenous groups, including the FNLC, called for Pope Francis to rescind the Doctrine.
While he would eventually admit to colonialism in Canada being a genocide, he would ultimately fall short of rescinding the Doctrine, or admitting the Church’s role in the crimes.
Now, with the United Kingdom, and by association Canada, adopting a new monarch in King Charles III, the FNLC says they believe his first act should be to renounce the Doctrine.
They say the new King is in a position to acknowledge the crimes of his predecessors, and to set the stage for a new relationship with Indigenous peoples.
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