Barry Ellsworth
11 November 2021•Update: 11 November 2021
TRENTON, Canada
Between 25 to 30 Canadian Indigenous leaders will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican Dec. 17-20, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said Wednesday.
It will mark the first time the leaders meet face-to-face with Pope Francis as they pursue an official apology from him for the Catholic Church's role in running historic Indian Residential Schools in Canada.
About 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend the schools from the early 1800s and a substantial number were sexually, physically and mentally abused. The last school closed in 1994 but the ordeal deeply scarred Indigenous families and survivors of the cruel system.
“The journey towards healing and reconciliation is a long one, but we believe this will be a significant milestone in the Catholic Church's commitment to renewing, strengthening and reconciling relationships with Indigenous Peoples across the land,” Raymond Poisson, president of the Canadian bishops, said in a news release Wednesday.
The schools represented the hammer used to attempt to club the Indigenous culture out of the children.
Besides Indigenous leaders, survivors and youth will trek to Rome and the private audiences will afford a chance to relate personal stories of the pain and suffering that lingers from the residential schools. This past summer more than 1,000 unmarked graves were located using ground-penetrating radar at three of the 139 former residential school sites. Most of the graves contain the remains of those who died at the schools and were buried there, sometimes without parents being told of the death of their children.
About 60% of the schools were run by the Catholic Church; the rest were in the charge of the Anglican, Presbyterian and United Churches. All have apologized, but Indigenous leaders have demanded that the Catholic apology come from Pope Francis as the head of the church. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a Catholic, added his voice to those requesting the apology.
The leaders also wanted the Pope to come onto Canadian soil to apology, something that will occur likely next year, bishops council has said.
The apology is for "the Roman Catholic Church's role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit and Metis children in Catholic-run residential schools," said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that investigated the residential school system and talked to families and survivors.
