The delegates had gathered for a final and public hearing with the Pope at the Vatican on Friday, as Francis spoke of “sadness and shame” for the behavior of those in charge of the schools. “I also feel ashamed … sad and ashamed of the role that many Catholics have played, especially those with educational responsibilities, in all these things that have hurt you, and the abuses you have suffered and the lack of respect for your identity, your culture. and even your spiritual values, “he said. “For the deplorable behavior of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God’s forgiveness and I want to tell you with all my heart, I am very sorry. And I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in apologizing.” Francis also said he would come to Canada. This is an emergency update. An earlier version of this story is below. Representatives of First Nations, Inuit and Métis meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday for a final hearing after a week of discussions about the Roman Catholic Church’s leading role in Canada’s home school system. All indigenous representatives attend the public gathering. The Pope has separate private meetings throughout the week with delegations from the First Nations, the Inuit and the Metis. Among other things, the delegates called on Pope Francis to finally apologize for the role of the Church in residential schools, to intervene in the case of a fugitive Oblate priest wanted in Canada for sex crimes, and to overturn two papal decrees used to justify colonialism. in America. Colleen Jacob, former leader of the Xaxli’p First Nation in British Columbia, leads First Nations representatives to sing outside St. Peter’s Basilica. (Olivia Stefanovic / CBC)
Leader Wilton Littlechild, a former commissioner for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), said it was “a long walk in Rome” for delegates explaining the continuing impact of the school experience on the leader of the 1.3 billion Catholics. “We did not just come to complain. We offered solutions,” said Littlechild, who has attended three different housing schools for 14 years. “It was not just a one-way street. We are talking about walking together.” Littlechild said Friday’s meeting, which is also his 78th birthday, would be “the first day of reconciliation.”

The delegates want the Pope to apologize on Canadian soil

The Roman Catholic Church is the only institution that ran residential schools and has not yet formally apologized to the survivors. The TRC – which reviewed Canada’s school housing history from 2008 to 2015 – has issued a papal apology as part of its 94 calls for action. The committee also urged all religious and religious groups to renounce concepts used to justify European sovereignty over their territories and indigenous peoples. “I hope so [the Pope] will be more immediate for his visit to Canada and for an apology. “Not that he should apologize here,” said Phil Fontaine, a school survivor and former national leader of the Assembly of First Nations. “We prefer the Holy Father to come to Canada, apologize on Canadian soil and do it in one of our territories. That is our hope and our wish.” Wilton Littlechild, a former commissioner for the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, said the final hearing with Pope Francis would be “the first day of reconciliation”. (Olivia Stefanovic / CBC)
Colleen Jacob, the former leader of the Xaxli’p First Nation in British Columbia, wrote about her experience of attending school in a letter to the Pope during a private meeting this week with representatives of the Convention. of the First Nations. Jacob said she still vividly remembers the bus that first picked her up in 1974, when she was just 7 years old. She said she was left behind and separated from her older brother. “It was a big shock to me because at home I followed him everywhere,” Jacob said. “I would cry when he did not take me.” Jacob said the pope must understand the damage caused by the separation of children from their families and communities. “So much has happened to our people that I feel we should never have,” he said. “Many of the difficulties we experienced were not really ours to experience in the first place.”