First Nations delegates hold two-hour meeting with Pope Francis

Members of a First Nations delegation left a two-hour audience with Pope Francis on Thursday with hopes of a new relationship between the Catholic Church and Canada’s Indigenous people.

“Despite our collective grief and pain, there comes hope for change,” Chief Gerald Antoine, the head of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) delegation, told reporters following the meeting at the Vatican.

“This change will bring dignity, equality, trust and an opportunity for this change to happen.”

The First Nations group is seeking an apology from Pope Francis for the Catholic Church’s role in running residential schools for Indigenous children.

The push for the meeting gained momentum last year after hundreds of unmarked graves were discovered on the sites of some residential schools. That included 751 unmarked graves found on the Cowessess First Nation near Broadview, and more than 200 on the former site of a residential school in Kamloops.

During the meeting, Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Chief Rosanne Casimir left a handwritten invitation for Pope Francis to visit the Kamloops site.

“This is our collective history,” Casimir said. “This is our history that we need to change for the hope for our children (and) our future generations.”

The delegates left the meeting and were met by family and community members who waited in St. Peter’s Square.

“This was a special moment for us, a profound moment,” former AFN national chief Phil Fontaine said.

Delegates shared their stories of residential schools and requested the doctrine of discovery be rescinded and Indigenous lands returned. They also asked the pontiff to visit Canada and apologize for the church’s role in residential schools.

Pope Francis didn’t commit to the trip or to the apology, but one of the delegates told reporters it has been suggested the pope could travel to Canada this summer.

The pontiff is to meet Friday with First Nations, Inuit and Metis delegates.