Warning: The following story contains details of boarding schools that may be disturbing. Canada’s Indian Residential School Survivors and Family Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.
Pope Francis has apologized for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s boarding schools, which for decades forced Indigenous children to attend and aimed to forcibly assimilate them into mainstream European culture.
Speaking to indigenous delegates at the Vatican on Friday, Pope Francis said he feels “sorrow and shame” for the role Catholics have played in the many abuses that indigenous children have been subjected to while attending school.
“For the unfortunate behavior of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask God’s forgiveness and I want to tell you from the bottom of my heart that I am very sorry. And I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in asking pardon,” he said.
The apology comes after a delegation of Metis, Inuit and First Nations leaders, hostel survivors and youth traveled to Rome, Italy, this week to hold meetings with the pope and seek accountability for the church’s role in the system .
Canada forced more than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis children to attend boarding schools between the late 1800s and the 1990s. The children were deprived of their language and culture, separated from siblings and subjected to mental, physical and sexual abuse.
Thousands are believed to have died while visiting the facilities, most of which were run by the Roman Catholic Church. A federal commission of inquiry into the institutions, known as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), concluded in 2015 that Canada’s boarding school system amounted to “cultural genocide.”
While other churches have apologized for their role in boarding schools, the Catholic Church has yet to offer such an apology – despite longstanding pleas from survivors, their families and communities.
Chief Gerald Antoine, head of the First Nations delegation in Rome, told reporters in the Italian capital that Pope Francis’ “long overdue apology” was “a historic first step.”
“But [it is] just a first step,” Antoine said, explaining that the Pope had to apologize in Canada to comply with one of the TRC’s calls to action (PDF). “The next step is for the Holy Father to apologize to our family back home,” Antoine said.
This was confirmed by Natan Obed, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, representing 60,000 Inuit in Canada. “Today we have a piece of the puzzle,” Obed said later in the day during a news conference in Rome.
“We have a warm expression of the Church conveyed in a sensitive and caring way by Pope Francis. I was touched by the way he expressed his sorrow and also by the way he condemned the actions of the church,” Obed said. “There’s a lot more work to be done, so an apology is part of a bigger picture.”
Visit to Canada
Pope Francis told indigenous delegates that he will travel to Canada. Canadian media reported that the visit is expected to take place in late July.
“I feel sadness and shame for the role that a number of Catholics, particularly those with educational responsibilities, have played in all these things that have hurt you, the abuse you have endured and the lack of respect that your identity has suffered , your culture and even your own person are given spiritual values,” said the Pope, acknowledging that the boarding school system had caused “great damage”.
“The chain that passed on knowledge and ways of life and attachment to the land was broken by a colonization that had no respect for you, tore many of you out of your vital milieu and tried to inform you with a different mentality” , he said. “In this way, great damage was done to your identity and your culture, and your families were separated.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed the papal apology as “a step forward” and said: “We look forward to him [Pope Francis] come to Canada to personally deliver this apology.”
“This apology would not have happened without the lengthy advocacy of survivors who have traveled to tell their truth directly to the institution responsible, and who have shared and relived their painful memories,” Trudeau told reporters during a separate virtual news conference.
“It took an incredible amount of courage and determination. Today’s apology is a step forward in acknowledging the truth of our past to right historical wrongs, but there is still work to be done.”
Indigenous leaders in Canada have called on the Catholic Church, as well as the federal government, to release all of their institutional records as communities seek justice for the abuses that have occurred. Many have also asked for financial reparations from the church.
My heart and thoughts are with the many Inuit, First Nations and Métis people. The long-awaited apology from the Pope is important. I see the impact this can make and I hope you will rely on the guidance of our elders as we continue to demand justice.
— ᓘᕆ ᐃᓪᓚᐅᖅ Lori Idlout❄️ (@LoriIdlout) April 1, 2022
Those calls for accountability grew louder after unmarked graves were discovered at several former dormitory sites across Canada since May last year.
“Pope Francis’ apology gives us hope that further action to #reconciliation will come,” also the Native Women’s Association of Canada wrote on twitter. “We hope this apology will signal further action in the future – including apologies on Canadian soil and the release of #ResidentialSchool records.”
“My heart and thoughts are with the many Inuit, First Nations and Metis,” said Canadian MP Lori Idlout tweeted. “The long-awaited apology from the Pope is important. I see the impact this can make and I hope you will rely on the guidance of our elders as we continue to demand justice.”