OTTAWA – As Pope Francis has traveled across Canada, so has the demand to review the centuries-old proclamations.
At the front of a Quebec basilica where the 85-year-old pontiff was preparing to preside at Mass, Sarain Fox and her cousin stood silently, holding a banner with the words “Rescind the Doctrine” in red and black paint.
“It felt like the resistance that was missing,” said Fox, who is from Batchawana First Nation.
A few days earlier in Maskwacis, Alta., after the Pope finished his first-ever address to school survivors on Canadian soil, a shout was heard from someone in the crowd.
“Reject the Doctrine of Discovery,” cried the voice.  “Renounce the papal bulls.”
The final report of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission helps reveal exactly what they are – and why the Pope has been faced with demands to publicly reject them.
The report is based on statements from nearly 7,000 indigenous survivors who were forced to attend residential schools, where abuse was rampant and they were denied the ability to speak their language or practice their spirituality.
The six-year investigation into the government-funded, church-run system traced its roots to the imperial world and the role of the Catholic Church, which operated more than half of Canada’s residential schools.
“The Pope and the Catholic Church are ground zero for the genocide we have endured,” said Eva Jewell, who is Deshkan Ziibiing Anishinaabekwe and director of research at the Yellowhead Institute.
“I don’t think it’s in any way unreasonable for indigenous peoples to expect a lot from the Pope because so much of our world and nationality has been stolen from this particular church.”
More than 500 years ago, Pope Alexander XI issued the first of a series of decrees known as papal bulls.
“These orders,” according to the commission, “helped shape the political and legal arguments called the ‘Doctrine of Discovery,’ which was used to justify the colonization of the Americas in the 16th century.”
“It’s just fundamental to understanding colonialism,” said Matthew Wildcat, a professor at the University of Alberta and a member of the Ermineskin Cree Nation.
“At the level of the general public, it has become much more prominent as a concept.”
The panel described how the 15th-century doctrine was associated with the thought that the lands being colonized were empty, when in fact the indigenous people called them home.
In its 94 calls to action, the commission instructed all levels of government, religious groups and signatories to India’s historic Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to repudiate the idea.
He said they should instead adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which spells out the need to recognize their inherent rights.
“You can’t really talk about the UN declaration without talking about the Doctrine of Discovery,” said Hayden King, executive director of the Yellowhead Institute.
“It’s this philosophy that comes out of conquest that natives shouldn’t be treated as having rights or laws or humanity in general.”
That’s why “people want to see it dealt with,” said King, an Anishinaabe from the Beausoleil First Nation, “because that’s ultimately what all the policies that they’ve pursued are based on.”
After Francis’ apology, which did not mention the doctrine, Western University professor Cody Groat noted how the commission’s call for a papal apology did not explicitly say the pope had to address it in his words.
The Six Nations of the Grand River member said he sees the way communities have responded to the call for the pope to do so as a reflection of the tensions surrounding aboriginal sovereignty in Canada.
“Our systems of sovereignty and our systems of government have been minimized through documents like (papal bulls) – that we are not true sovereign entities.”
In response to criticism from indigenous leaders, organizers of the pope’s visit said the Vatican had previously clarified how the doctrine has “no legal or moral authority” in the church and how Francis, in his apology, condemned ideas linked to it, such as assimilation.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald says that’s not the same as a full recall, which she believes should happen.
“I’ve always said that we need a new papal bull to talk about the value and worth of indigenous peoples and cultures around the world,” he said on Friday.
“Things need to be fixed in this society that stem from the Doctrine of Discovery.”
He cited the return of indigenous land as an example.
Jewell says it’s important for non-Indigenous people to know Indigenous people like herself grew up learning about the doctrine as the “source of colonialism” thanks to elders and longtime rights advocates.
The desire to repeal “has always been there,” King added, saying the difference now is that Indigenous people have found their voices amplified through movements like Idle No More and the commission’s findings on residential schools.
Although Pope Francis did not include the doctrine in his apology, the organizers of his trip have since said that Canadian bishops intend to work with the Vatican to address it, “with the aim of issuing a new statement from the church.”
Fox said she expected some pushback to the protest she and her cousin staged at the mass, but she left feeling proud.  Reflecting on the moment makes her emotional.
“Abolish the Dogma” – it was just strong and powerful.
“The outpouring of support from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people from around the world has been incredible.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 30, 2022.
– With files from the Associated Press