Pope Francis has apologized for the Catholic Church’s cooperation with Canada’s “devastating” policy of Indigenous residential schools, saying the forced assimilation of Native peoples into Christian society destroyed their cultures.
Francis’ words on Monday went beyond his earlier apology for the “deplorable” acts of missionaries and instead took responsibility for the church’s institutional cooperation with the “catastrophic” assimilation policy, which Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has said amounted to a “cultural genocide.
Many in the crowd wore traditional dress, including ribbon skirts and vests with Native motifs. Others donned orange shirts, which has become a symbol of residential school survivors, recalling the story of one woman who recalled she had her favorite orange shirt, given by her grandmother, confiscated upon arrival at a residential school and replaced with a uniform.
Francis’ six-day trip — which will also include other sites in Alberta, as well as Quebec City and Iqaluit, Nunavut, in the far north — follows meetings he held in the spring at the Vatican with delegations from the First Nations, Metis and Inuit. Those meetings culminated with a historic April 1 apology for the “deplorable” abuses committed by some Catholic missionaries in residential schools.
Catholics operated a majority of the Canadian schools, while various Protestant denominations operated others in cooperation with the government. Chief Greg Desjarlais of the Frog Lake First Nation in northern Alberta, a school survivor, said after the pope’s arrival Sunday that there are “mixed emotions across this country” over his visit.
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