Pope Meets With Métis Residential School Survivors But Doesn’t Apologize

While Métis individuals called a recent meeting at the Vatican “comfortable,” Pope Francis has refrained from apologizing about government-funded residential schools run by the Catholic Church. 

While meeting with survivors of church-run residential schools at the Vatican early Monday morning, the Pope listened intently as three Métis survivors detailed their experiences. Despite not apologizing for the church’s role in the genocide of Indigenous peoples in Canada, he did speak of “truth, justice, and healing” according to CBC. 

“Pope Francis sat, and he listened, and he nodded along when our survivors told their stories,” said Métis National Council president Cassidy Caron to CBC. “Our survivors did an incredible job in that meeting of standing up and telling their truths. They were so brave and so courageous, and we wanted to make sure we elevated their voices, and that’s exactly what we did today.”

Before the meeting, Caron said that she would push for access to the church’s residential school records, hoping to put names to the children affected. 

Reconciliation has been a topic followed by Canadians increasingly over the last few years, with many people pledging to no longer celebrate Canada Day after the discovery of mass graves at sites of former residential schools across the country. In conjunction with this, Ryerson University is in the process of changing its name as to no longer be associated with Egerton Ryerson, an architect of the residential school system.

Pope Francis has committed to traveling to Canada to meet with more residential school survivors, but a date has yet to be set.