Government Fails to Investigate Abuse Occured in Magdalene Laundries

Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) has hit out at the Government’s failure to provide redress and an independent investigation into the abuse carried out in Magdalene Laundries.

The group made the criticisms after issuing a summary of its submissions to the inter-departmental committee set up to “clarify” any state involvement in the Magdalene Laundries.

In a comprehensive document, complete with Magdalene survivor testimony and clear examples, JFM outline “clear evidence” of state involvement in the operation of Magdalene Laundries in three main respects:

* The state was involved in sending women and young girls to the institutions and ensuring they remained there. This was done to deal with social problems;

* The state also provided the religious orders with direct and indirect financial support: direct financial support from “capitation” (per head) grants for certain of the women and girls incarcerated in the Magdalene Laundries; and indirect financial support in terms of valuable state contracts for the cleaning laundry;

* The state entirely failed to supervise the religious orders’ operation of the Magdalene Laundries by allowing women and girls to be incarcerated illegally, allowing them to be forced to work in servitude for no pay. It failed to enforce its own health and safety legislation, failed to require girls of school-going age to be educated, failed to ensure that social security contributions were paid in respect of women and girls in the laundries and it failed to ensure that any woman or girl who died was issued with a death certificate.

JFM said the “bottom line” was the Government has not complied with the recommendation made by the United Nations Committee against Torture (UNCAT) that it offer redress to survivors and establish an independent inquiry into the full facts of the Magdalene Laundry abuse.

Speaking in the Dáil in March, Justice Minister Alan Shatter appeared to row back on previous comments by claiming state involvement in committing women to Magdalene Laundries had a “very complicated” background. However, speaking as justice spokesperson when in opposition in 2009, Mr Shatter stated there was “irrefutable evidence” within the department he now heads of state involvement.

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Vatican must meet Anti Catholic Church Activists Worldwide (ACCAW) demands by September 15

Breaking News for Global Release:

Catholic Church Faces Disruption and Banishment as Irish Cardinal set to resign

Friday,May 4, 2012 -  7:00 pm GMT

A Communiqué from ITCCS International

Brussels and Dublin:


The Roman Catholic Church faces permanent disruption and banishment in at least five countries if it does not comply with ten “non-negotiable measures” by September 15, 2012, according to a global coalition of survivors of church rape and torture.


The list of measures was issued today at a meeting in Dublin, Ireland between Archbishop Dermot Martin and representatives of Anti Catholic Church Activists Worldwide (ACCAW), Magdalene Laundry survivors, and the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State – Ireland (ITCCS).


The measures demanded of the Catholic Church include the defrocking of all child raping priests, the licensing of all other clergy as public servants, the return of the remains of all who died under Church care, the annulment of tax exemptions and other Church privileges, and there turn of all of the Church’s wealth generated by the exploitation of children.


The full statement outlining these measures is reproduced below, including an attached audio recording of the statement.


Issued on the eve of the impending resignation of the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, for his protection of child raping priests, the statement was delivered by John Deegan of ACCAW and ITCCS Ireland members Gerry O’Donovan and Dave O’Brien, who confronted Archbishop Martin with the demands.


The Ten Point statement was issued by The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State, an umbrella organization of over fifty organizations in the United States, Canada, Ireland,England and Australia.


“Pope Benedict and his Bishops have until midnight on September 15 to start complying with these measures” said ITCCS Secretary Kevin Annett today.


“After that, we will begin actions to halt the normal operation of the Roman Catholic Church around the world, and we will seek indictments against Pope Benedict and other Vatican officials for crimes against humanity and criminal conspiracy.”


The ACCAW, ITCCS and other groups have staged high profile occupations of Catholic churches during their regular services, and plan to escalate these actions into “a permanent campaign of non-violent disruption and civil disobedience aimed at the Roman Catholic Church … until the Church’s reign of terror over children is ended.”


Issued May 4, 2012 by ITCCS International – Brussels


Information: genocidetribunal@yahoo.ca or 250-591-4573 (Canada) and cliogarvin@hotmail.comor godonothing@gmail.com (Ireland)


...........................

An Open Letter to Archbishop Dermot Martin and the Bishops and Clergy of Ireland, from The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State

Issued to a meeting with Archbishop Martin on May 4, 2012

My name is Kevin Annett and I am the Secretary of the five-nation body known as The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS). I am speaking on behalf of the ITCCS and our affiliate organization in Ireland.


Our coalition represents over fifty organizations in Canada, the United States, Ireland, England and Australia, including many survivors of church terror.


We have also been recognized by seven aboriginal nations in North America, and been authorized by them to recover the remains of their relatives who died in Catholic Indian residential schools and orphanages; and to bring to justice those responsible for the death of over 50,000 children in these church-run institutions.


Let us state clearlythat the time for polite talk is over.


The Roman Catholic Church has imposed and is perpetrating a reign of terror and crimes against humanity on generations of children, is actively concealing those crimes and protecting child rapists and murderers in its ranks, and has shown no desire or capacity to change the policies or practices that allow these unspeakable crimes to continue.


Nevertheless, on behalf of the nations and survivors we represent, and the Executive Council of the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State, I have been authorized to give the Church a final opportunity to change, by presenting the following demands to the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, as we have already done to Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger, and Vatican officials.


The following concrete actions by the Church are required if justice is to be won for its victims and if the crimes it has committed and continue to cover up are to end.


If the Church fails to abide by these basic commandments of humanity and the law, we will take permanent action to end its criminal regime.


1.      The Church must issue full reparations to all of its victims, including by paying for all of their medical and counseling bills, the cost of the irrehabilitation and retraining, and for any of their disabilities and losses.


2.      The Church must surrender for a proper burial, without conditions and at its own expense, the remains of all those who died in its institutions or while under its care.


3.      The Church must return all land and property taken from its victims, andrestore all of the wealth generated by its exploitation of them as children,including the wealth created from their unpaid or low paid labor.


4.      The Church must surrender without conditions all of the evidence of its crimesagainst children, and all of those persons responsible for committing thesecrimes and concealing them, including its highest officials. The Church mustfully disclose this evidence and participate without conditions in all publicinvestigations into its crimes.


5.      The Church and its guilty parties cannot hide behind so-called diplomatic immunity or other privileges to evade justice and avoid prosecution. The Vatican must end its official cover up and annul its policy known as Crimen Sollicitationis, which compels Catholic clergy to conceal crimes committed against children in their parishes.


6.      The Church must immediately expel and defrock all known child raping priests, officials and employees in its ranks, and defrock any clergy who harms a child or conceals such harm.


7.      All clergy and Church officials must agree to be licensed and monitored aspublic servants, and take a legally binding, public oath to protect without conditions the rights and sanctity of children and disclose any harm done to them.


8.      The Church must forego and withdraw from all of the tax exemptions, financial concordats and agreements, and other special privileges presently granted to it under the laws of nations.


9.      The Vatican must agree to the annulment of its status as a so-called state, and free its congregations and dioceses from it's authority so that they may act according to the wishes and needs of their respective communities and their faith, and not the political and financial requirements of the Vatican.


10.   All of the wealth accumulated by the Church and the Vatican Bank through land theft and conquest, and from tax exemptions, concordats, and from its operations around the world that have harmed children through the exploitation of their labor, such as the Magdalene Laundries and Indian residential schools, must be returned to its victims and to the poor in general through a direct, public redistribution of that wealth, as Christ himself commands.


We have been instructed to inform the Bishops of Ireland, as we have notified the Vatican, that they have until September 15, 2012, to agree to these demands and implement these ten measures.


If they fail to commence to do so by midnight of that date, we will enact the following measures:


1.      The Roman Catholic Church will be formally and forever banished from our communities, and measures will be taken to legally and practically prevent it from operating;


2.      Roman Catholic churches, agencies and offices around the world will be permanently disrupted and occupied as part of an ongoing campaign of non-violent civil disobedience; and


3.      Our International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State will reconvene its court, and will seek the immediate detaining for questioning of the highest officials of your Roman Catholic Church, including Pope Benedict, on charges of obstruction of justice, criminal conspiracy, and crimes against humanity.


 It is time for all people of conscience within the Church to choose who they will serve: a self-governing, criminal church system that sets itself above the law and God –or its suffering victims, and justice.


We urge Catholics to choose life, by making these ten steps a reality.  Otherwise, the Roman Catholic Church will have forfeited its right to operate in our communities and in our world.


By this declaration, we are lending our active support to the Irish survivors of rape and torture by the Roman Catholic Church who are meeting with Archbishop Martin today. These survivors include members of ACCAW, the ITCCS, and Magdalene laundry victims.


We stand as a united front with these brothers and sisters, and with all victims of Church terror anywhere in the world. We will never stop until justice is achieved, and the reign of terror against children everywhere is ended.


We will be sharing this letter with our affiliates around the world, as well as with the global media, judicial bodies,and governments.


We welcome a forma lresponse from the office of Archbishop Martin, and we call upon the Church to accept the demands and wishes of the Irish survivors who are meeting today with Archbishop Martin.


Signed on behalf of The Executive Council of The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State


Reverend Kevin D. Annett, ITCCS Secretary

Gerry O’Donovan, ITCCS Ireland

Dave O’Brien, ITCCS Ireland


Issued May 4, 2012 by ITCCS International (Brussels)genocidetribunal@yahoo.ca

 

ITCCS Ireland Protest outside the Dail, Dublin, April 2010

20,000 people oppose Pope Benedict's visit to England, London, September 2010

Read the truth of genocide in Canada and globally at: www.itccs.org

www.hiddennolonger.com  (includes documentary film Unrepentant)

www.hiddenfromhistory.org

www.KevinAnnett.com

Kevin can be reached at hiddenfromhistory1@gmail.com or kevin_annett@hotmail.com  - and phone messages can be left for him at 250-591-4573 (Canada).

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Catholic run Schools had Aboriginal Children Teeth Extracted without Painkiller

When Seeing Leads to More than Believing

By Kevin D. Annett

What I held in my hand yesterday caused me to flee from the University of British Columbia library, and seek solace in the deep forest that surrounds the campus where I grew up, and where I have discovered the unimaginable.

It was an unusual reaction, for I had encountered much worse over the years. But after seeing the document, something snapped in me and made nothing else possible than to rush to the woods, fall to the bountiful soil behind a hidden tree tangled in moss, and dig my hands desperately into mother earth and sob like I had not done since I was a child.


I lay there for some time, after the tears were spent, and gradually the quiet bird song and sunlight merged with a perfectaroma I had not breathed for so long: the forest loam itself, and its rich,musky decomposition so alive and sweet. 


I hugged the ground and buried my face in our good earth, and felt suddenly that my own corrosion from the long and hard years could be the source of something more than personal agony. For I turned over just then and scribbled on a piece of paper,

My pain and suffering is the nursing log out of which so many and so much will grow.


I lay on my back, wonderfully calm and spent, and looked again at the photocopied document I had unearthed that morning from the government archives in Koerner Library’s microfilm section.

It read,

“Department of Indian Affairs, Dental Report: St. Paul’s Catholic Indian School, Squamish Mission Reservation, May 1924”.

And beneath that title was listed the names of fifty-six children who had had their teeth extracted without painkiller by Dr. E. Fraser Allen of Vancouver.

No anesthesia.

Matilda Miranda was seven years old, and six ofher teeth were yanked from her jaw without anesthesia. Theresa George was eight, and five of her teeth were similarly pulled. Leonard Rodrigues, age 10, Ralph Atkins, age nine, Doreen Thomas, age nine: all denied painkiller. Over 80% of the group of fifty six “students” at St. Paul’s Indian school were tortured thus.

Dr. Allen was paid $20.54 for his efforts, including the cost of $1.50 for his tools and amalgam dressing. It took him about a half hour to yank out all those little teeth, according to the good doctor’s report of May 7, sent to C. C. Perry, the local Indian Agent.

That meant he yanked out a tooth, on average,every ten seconds: non stop.

Harry Wilson never opened his mouth much when he first spoke to me, in the fall of 1997, because his teeth were such a mess.

“Naw, I never go to a dentist” he explained sadly.“They never gave us painkiller at residential school, when they pulled our teeth”.

Harry’s teeth were yanked over forty years after the same torture was performed by Dr. Allen on the St. Paul’s children: a different school, and a Catholic one, but identical to the practice inflicted on Harry at a United Church Indian residential school in Port Alberni in 1967.

Harriett Nahanee had the same story, at the same school in 1946. So did Vera Little, at the Anglican school in Alert Bay in1953. And the husband of Alia MacKenzie-Point at the Chehalis reservation in 1969.

I can’t hate Dr. Allen, or any of the other specialists who have ripped the teeth and the innocence from children with the full sanction of church and state for so many years. For like you and I, these torturers learned quickly how to numb themselves to the screams and the blood in order to get on with their job.

That struck me with a sudden clarity, alone in the forest, after my own tears had washed away my numbness, and I began, as always, to grapple with how to share this new evidence with the world in a way that would make others do something more than believe that the crimes did happen, and still happen. And yet I knew that, as with all the other evidence of these grisly acts done to aboriginal children, very few people would want to know the horrible truth, let alone dare to do anything about it.

Tempted by the old despair, I stared just then at what I had scribbled moments before: My pain and suffering is the nursing log out of which so many and so much will grow. And then an answer echoed in me, from something Alice Miller had written once:

We can never find empathy for the suffering of others until we have faced and embraced the pain done to ourselves.

I’ve often noticed how the church goers who trudge past our offered leaflets on a Sunday morning bear the same look, when confronted by what their church did, and what their collection money helps to cover up: people who are resigned. Batter someone enough, and they become that way.

We are all so weary of the battering we have each endured since infancy, and yet are so incapable of feeling we can do anything to stop it. Even the very life-giving sky above seems to mock life itself these days, stained by vile chemical trails spewed by corporate and military madmen far beyond our reach. What can even our best integrity and courage do in the face of the enormity of the violence we face?

Harry Wilson, and his counterparts Matilda and Theresa and all the other helpless little victims, knew the same despair, and some of them found a way to endure. And like Harry, who was able to tell wha thappened to him, when my own tears freely flowed the other day I found it easier to face the truth and find a light where there shouldn’t have been one. So Alice Miller must be on to something.

When we see our lives and our worlds for what they are, and can say so, we gain a power over what seemed like fate or irresistible injustice: sort of like naming a demon and calling it to leave a possessed soul. That’s the power of knowing our true history, individually and as a whole, and not denying the darkest moments, but describing them out loud, for what they are.

Rising up from the forested earth, I felt like a demon had indeed left me, and a warm surge of love filled me for those long dead and violated Indian children who still wait for justice. That kind of love doesn’t allow apathy or timid excuses: it does not rest until right is done. It was blessing beyond expression that day to feel the old flame arise in me again, born from my own grief, and theirs.

I ran joyfully from the woods on the sunlit path towards the bus stop, armed again with my being and the documented truth in my bag, and I knew that the time to act is always present in us. And from somewhere, the words of Rabbi Hillel sounded then:

If I am not for myself, then who will be?
If I am only for myself, then what am I?
If not now, when?

Torture survivor Harry Wilson (left) and Kevin Annett, 1997, Vancouver

Read the truth of genocide in Canada and globally at:
www.itccs.org
www.hiddennolonger.com  (includes documentary film Unrepentant)
www.hiddenfromhistory.org
www.KevinAnnett.com

See this introductory video on The Canadian Holocaust:

Kevin can be reached at hiddenfromhistory1@gmail.com - and phone messages can be left for him at 250-591-4573 (Canada).

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219 Children Murdered and Buried in a Protestant Residential School in Ireland

Church & State Crimes at Protestant Bethany Homes for Unwed Mothers - Children Murdered & Unmarked Graves

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Over 450,000 Children in Australia, Canada and USA by Church and State

Organized crime schemes orchestrated by the Catholic Church in
Australia, Canada & USA.

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Lily O'brien Speaks of her Childhood in an Ireland School ran by a Catholic Churc

One Girls tragic convent upbringing that was more like Hell than Heaven.

The shocking true story of an innocent Girl abused by the very people who said they would take good care of her, within Irelands Catholic Church run institutions. You only get one opportunity to live your life as a child, but Lily was never given that chance, her childhood was taken from her before it ever begun.

PAPERBACK & E-BOOK NOW AVAILABLE IN AMAZON & SMASHWORDS.

http://thegirlnobodywants.org/

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Kevin Annette, Ex Priest Defrocked for Exposing Canadian Church and State Involvement in Indian Children Genocide

In Canada, Kevin Annett, is an ex-priest defrocked for exposing the full extent of Canadian church and government involvement in the genocide of Indian children.

He is the only priest ever expelled in the history of the United Church of Canada.

Kevin Annett shares information about the psychological war campaign implemented against him by the United Church in an attempt to stop him from exposing these crimes against humanity since the criminals still walk free.

For more info, visit: http://www.HiddenFromHistory.org

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