"Anglican Church admits it 'helped to create' conditions for suicide crisis"

cbc.ca

"The Anglican Church of Canada says it will continue working with First Nations in northern Ontario to confront the 'legacy of brokenness' created by a pedophile priest who worked in remote communities in the 1970s and 80s.

Ralph Rowe worked as a priest and boy scout leader and flew a plane with the Anglican Church logo into remote First Nations in northern Ontario where his "abuse was massive in its scope and horrendous in its impact," said a statement on Friday from Michael Thompson, general secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada.

First Nations leaders referred to Rowe's legacy of abuse in Wapekeka First Nation during a news conference on Thursday about two 12-year-old girls who died by suicide within days of each other earlier this month.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said Rowe was a 'monster' who abused more than 500 children during his time working in northern Ontario and leading to an intergenerational suicide crisis in Wapekeka.

'We've reached out to the Anglican Church numerous times...they've never acknowledged their role,' Fiddler said. 'They've never supported any of our efforts to give us funding, even, for community-based healing work that needs to happen, they've never apologized to any of the survivors, to any of our communities and that's still very much a reality that we're dealing with.'"