The Kamloops mass graves tragedy / story was pulled off the shelf in May 2021 and presented to Canadians with an exaggerated level of urgency to pave the way for the Papal Apology.
Because of the BC Supreme Court’s ruling in Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General) earlier this year, I should unpack why I think the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops relented on their reluctance and made a deal with the government of the day to get the long-awaited apology from the Pope at that moment. I’ve mentioned this on social media over the last couple of years, as I slowly piece together my own legal nightmare with the Diocese of Peterborough and watch public events unfold.
I believe:
-James Zegers leaked (or was eavesdropped upon) re: details about what the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (the CCCB) had done; quietly forced a Bishop to resign for spilling tea, and then attempting to smear/frame a victim of clergy & institutional misconduct
-Nuncio Luigi Bonazzi is the one who influenced superiors to remove Bishop Robert Bourgon
-Ontario priests and staff are aware of criminal activities by priests
-A coerced apology I wrote to save my life (and perhaps footage from cameras where I gave back the Eucharist once at Sacred Heart parish, and when I tossed a note from my sponsor at the alter during noon Mass at St Peter-in-Chains – this possibility was only communicated to me in mid-2024) was used to convince superiors in Rome that the Peterborough Diocese had been “attacked for the faith” by a “vengeful, violent infiltrator who was never really Catholic”. I wrote to Deirdre Thomas at the Pastoral Centre that I renounced everything in the apology, as soon as the bond was over and it was safe to do so. She forwarded that email to Cst B Van Gerven.
-the fact that I hired a lawyer contact of a Canadian Catholic church sexual abuse litigator surprised and alarmed the Crown, the Diocese
-the fact that the Vatican had been waiting on the decision of the Mount Cashel Supreme Court of Canada on vicarious liability, and the outcome was that Dioceses are liable for historical abuse from monasteries, orphanages, convents
I know:
-former ESL students I had worked with through the italki platform were involved after-the-fact
-Fr Roche, who had been a confessor and who cultivated my trust for almost two years, betrayed me and lead me into harm’s way, yelling “That’s power!!!!” on the phone after I drove to Peterborough to be arrested, three months after I made the deliberate choice to involve the police, as lay people are advised to do, and specifically because Bishop Robert Bourgon had phoned me and vindicated me and said Bishop Daniel Meihn must intervene and hear what I had to say. In his defence, I can admit he is in his 70s and probably at some point genuinely came to think I was an infiltrator. It still hurts though.
-I consulted three Canonists trying to understand what was going on and none of them told me a simulation of a Sacrament carried connotations of sexual misconduct
As most of the Catholic priests and employees are still living, I don’t think they can be compelled to talk, so much can’t be proven. To sum up, the Canadian government, both Conservative and Liberals, wanted the Truth and Reconciliation process to move forward eventually. A situation came up that moved the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Holy Father to decide to come to Canada and make an formal apology.
I do think the question of who was eavesdropping on the priests, as my sponsor John O’Brien accused me of doing in January 2021, is pertinent due to how relationships between private land holders and First Nations are shifting. However, since I have forcefully reported what I know to police and the RCMP and CSIS, I’ve done my best. Since I’ve been posting about this on social media ever since it happened, I wrote this page to give some facts and explain my reasoning that the Papal Apology originates in the xenophobia of rural Peterborough County.
In hindsight, if someone had explicitly asked me if I was willing to join a project to move Truth and Reconciliation forward (legally, explicitly!), I probably would have said yes. But I am and was in the dark about what was going on, ever since Patricia Robinson (a Facebook profile) called me allegedly to talk as fellow Catholic, but who actually wanted to talk about how meta-cognitive I am, and a few more very specific topics. I think the (passive and active) collection of our audio data, our keystrokes, insights into our psychology and emotions was happening as far back as 2014. I won’t say more (unless specifically asked) because some of what happened was pretty woo. Jody Thomas said Canada needs our own intelligence service, and she is correct.