‘No guarantees’ of papal apology for residential schools after Vatican trip: AFN
OTTAWA — Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde says there are no guarantees an Indigenous delegation travelling to the Vatican will lead to Pope Francis apologizing in Canada for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools — but they must try.
Bellegarde confirmed AFN representatives will join Métis and Inuit leaders making the trip in late December to seek a papal apology.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report into the residential school system released in 2015 called for the pope to come to Canada to apologize to survivors as well as their families and communities for the abuses faced by Indigenous children.
It asked for that to happen within one year of the report’s release and to be similar to the papal apology delivered to victims in Ireland that suffered different abuses through the Catholic Church.