The Catholic Response to Call to Action 48 of the TRC (On Adopting and Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) recognizes the following:

In 2012, the Permanent Council of the CCCB issued a Pastoral Letter on Freedom of Conscience and Religion, declaring that:

Every individual has the ‘the right to be able to worship God in accordance with the right dictates of his conscience.’ [Saint John XXIII, Pacem in Terris 14]. Other people, as well as civil society, have the corresponding duty to respect the free spiritual development of each person. Besides being free from external coercion, everyone must be able freely to exercise the right to choose, profess, disseminate, and practice his or her own religion in private and in public. This includes the freedom for parents to educate their children in their religious convictions and to choose the schools which provide that formation. Moreover, the state has the obligation to protect this right by means of a legal and administrative framework and to create a suitable environment where it can be enjoyed. The Catholic Church does not claim these rights for Christians only, but for all people – including those choosing to follow Indigenous forms of spirituality and religious belief. To do otherwise would run contrary to the Church’s mission.

“Walking Forward Together” also recognizes the following recommendations from the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops:

• Continue to work with Catholic educational institutions and programs of formation in learning to tell the history of Canada in a way that is truthful, ensuring proper treatment of the history and experience of Indigenous Peoples, including the experience of oppression and marginalization which resulted from the Indian Act, the Residential School system, and frequent ignoring or undermining of signed treaties and;
• Work with centres of pastoral and clergy formation to promote a culture of encounter by including the study of the history of Canadian missions, with both their weaknesses and strengths, which encompasses the history of the Indian Residential Schools. In doing this, it will be important to be attentive to Indigenous versions of Canadian history, and for these centres to welcome and engage Indigenous teachers in the education of clergy and pastoral workers, assuring that each student has the opportunity to encounter Indigenous cultures as part of their formation
• Support Bishops and their dioceses and eparchies, as well as superiors of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, together with lay Catholic organizations, in deepening and broadening their relationships, dialogue and collaboration with Indigenous Peoples; in developing programs of education on Indigenous experience and culture; and in their efforts to continue to move forward with renewed hope following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report and its Calls to Action, especially those that address faith communities.
• Encourage Bishops, as well as the superiors of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, together with lay Catholic organizations, to invite a greater acquaintance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in their dioceses and eparchies, in their parishes and educational institutions, and in their communities and pastoral work, thus fostering continuing reflection in local contexts on how various aspects of the Declaration can be implemented or supported.

https://www.cccb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/catholic-response-call-to-action-48-2.pdf