Metis and Inuit residential school survivors and leaders meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican

Delegations of Metis and Inuit Canadians met with Pope Francis, to discuss the Catholic Church’s central role in the residential school system. Survivors asked the Pope for an apology, and access to church records about the schools, where 150-thousand indigenous children were taken by force.

Pope Francis met with members of the Inuit and Metis people, including residential school survivors, in separate private meetings on Monday. They asked him to come to Canada to apologize for the church’s participation in the residential school system.

The system was designed to assimilate First Nations’ children, many of whom suffered horrific abuse at the schools. Most of them were run by the Catholic Church.

Residential school survivor Martha Grieg says an apology would mean a lot to her and many other survivors. Members of the Metis delegation played the fiddle in St. Peter’s Square after their meeting with the Pope, telling reporters an apology is long overdue. “It is never too late to do the right thing.”

Metis National Council President Cassidy Caron says she is not disappointed the Pope didn’t apologize today because an apology on Canadian soil would mean more, and says she expects that trip to come soon. Vatican sources have told Reuters it will likely be this summer.

Inuit leader Natan Obed says the Pope was also asked about outstanding restitution and using church documents and other resources to investigate the discovery of unmarked graves at former residential schools. “It’s not just records, it’s also the good faith to use the catholic church’s resources to help.”

The Mohawk Institute in Brantford was once a residential school, and it will soon begin to search for unmarked graves on its property. The OPP along with Six Nations police and Brantford police launched a tip-line to aid in the investigation. “We want to hear from the survivors of the Mohawk Institute or anyone else who could have any information about missing children or might have witnessed any criminal acts that might have led to the death of children at the facility.”

Today’s meeting was the first of several between Indigenous leaders and the Pope this week. On Thursday a First Nations delegation is scheduled to meet with him, and on Friday all three delegations will meet together with the Pope.