Ottawa, Canada- Pope Francis has landed in Canada where he will stay for six days and apologize to Indigenous communities.
The visit comes after years of pleas from Indigenous leaders and leading politicians for a Vatican apology about the schools, which were designed to erase Indigenous culture and language by forcibly separating children from their families to assimilate them into Western ways.
From the 1880s through the 1990s, the Canadian government forcibly removed at least 150 000 Indigenous children from their homes and sent them to residential schools. Their languages, and religious and cultural practices, were banned, sometimes through violence.
A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was established in 2008 and concluded in 2015 made 92 recommendations including asking the Pope to come to Canada to apologize directly to Indigenous people.
Last year, hundreds of unmarked graves were discovered on the grounds of former residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission reported that more than 4 000 Indigenous children died either from neglect or abuse in residential schools, many of which were run by the Catholic Church.
“Dear brothers and sisters of Canada. I come among you to meet the Indigenous people. I hope, with God’s grace, that my penitential pilgrimage might contribute to the journey of reconciliation already undertaken. Please accompany me with prayer,” said the Pope.
Phil Fontaine, the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, (a political organization representing approximately 900 000 Indigenous people in Canada) was one of the first Indigenous leaders to publicly describe the abuse he suffered at a residential school in Canada run by the Catholic Church.
“Many of us have had thoughts about the Catholic Church for a long time and this particular moment may sweep aside these doubts that have been there. To make it all work, you have to be able to forgive, and that means you have to make peace with the church,” said Fontaine.
The Canadian government formally apologized 14 years ago for establishing the schools and has paid billions of dollars in reparations to former students. The Protestant churches that were also involved in the schools long ago followed suit.
Catholics remain the largest religious group in this predominantly Christian country, with about 38 percent of Canadians identifying as Catholic and in a country with high levels of immigration, people who identify as Catholic are the largest group among newcomers.
However, the share of people identifying as Catholic has undergone a modest decline, particularly in the province of Quebec, where the church was once a powerful political force.
