Steve Scherer, Anna Mehler Paperny

TORONTO (Reuters] – Canadians do not care about constitution change, Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada said Tuesday to reporters after Prince Charles and Camilla from Britain began their Canadian tour.

“When Canadians tell me about what’s on their minds and how they want their government to deal with it, it’sn’t about constitutional reform,” he stated.

The prince will visit Canada for his 19th time on this three-day journey, including the Northwest Territories, Canada’s capital, as well as the Northwest Territories. He is focusing on climate change mitigation and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

It is part of Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, which mark seven decades of her reign on the throne.

A poll by the Angus Reid research organization in April showed that a rising number of Canadians are in favor of abolishing Canada’s constitution monarchy. It was at 51% in February 2020, up from 45%.

Canada was no longer a British colony, but it continued to be a member the British Commonwealth. A British-appointed governor general acted on behalf of the monarch.

Tuesday’s activities included a ceremony called smudging. It is an Indigenous spiritual practice which involves lighting medicines, such as tobacco, sweetgrass or cedar. There was also a prayer to be said in St. John’s Heart Garden, which commemorates Canada’s Residential Schools child victims.

Between 1831-1896, about 150,000 Indigenous children were removed from their homes and placed in residential schools run by the Church under the auspices Canada’s federal government.

Last year, Canada was shocked by the discovery of the bodies of thousands of kids near former residential schools. Canada’s government was warned about the death rate in these schools. This is often because of abuse or neglect that occurred more than a century before.