‘Meaningful apology,’ release of documents crucial to Pope’s Canadian visit, says Tk’emlúps chief

A papal apology for the church's role in residential schools is among the 94 calls to action laid out in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report from 2015.

The chief of the B.C. First Nation where the unmarked graves of 215 children were discovered at a former residential school site in May is hoping an apology and promise to release key documents will be the result of the Pope’s upcoming visit to Canada.

“Our hope is that he does come to Kamloops,” Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir told Global News.

“That he does listen to our elders and our survivors. And, you know, some of the intergenerational trauma that has impacted so many of us, to hear those stories and those truths as well. And to come to a meaningful apology.”

On Wednesday, the Vatican said Pope Francis would travel to Canada at a yet to be determined date “in the context of the long-standing pastoral process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.”

The announcement comes amid a national reckoning over the legacy of Canada’s residential schools, institutions designed by the federal government and operated by religious groups including the Catholic church to assimilate Indigenous children.

Many of those children suffered serious physical and sexual abuse, and since the revelation of the graves at the Tk’emlúps school, a total of 1,300 suspected graves have been discovered nationwide.

A papal apology for the church’s role in residential schools is among the 94 calls to action laid out in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report in 2015 as a road map to reconciliation.

Casimir has been vocal in her call for an apology and said she was shocked the Pope had yet to commit to one on his planned trip to Canada. The First Nation has invited Pope Francis to visit their community when he arrives in Canada.