In Canada, Francis will apologize to indigenous peoples for the injustice they have suffered. Conditions in the “Residential Schools” were brutal and at times inhuman.
There are four words Wilton Littlechild hopes to hear from the Pope: “I’m sorry.” Littlechild is the chief of the Cree nation in the parish of Maskwacis. One of the largest “residential schools” once stood there: boarding schools where children were severely abused by Canada’s indigenous people. Littlechild was co-chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which dealt with the history of the “Residential Schools” – and the fate of the 150,000 indigenous children who went through this school system and whose livelihoods were partially destroyed physically and psychologically.
if Pope Francis arrives in Canada on Sunday for his long-awaited visit, the focus will be on encounters with the indigenous peoples. And an apology – for the wrongs that the Catholic Church in cooperation with the Canadian state, inflicted on the country’s indigenous people, particularly through the “Residential Schools”. The Pope sees his six-day visit, which will take him to Edmonton, Québec and Iqaluit, as a “pilgrimage of penance” intended to contribute to healing and reconciliation.