Meeting with Pope an 'opportunity' to begin handover of residential school records: former AFN chief
CTV
Former Assembly of First Nations national chief Perry Bellegarde says an upcoming meeting between Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors and Pope Francis provides an 'opportunity' to begin the process of retrieving institutional records.
In an interview on CTV’s Question Period airing Sunday, Bellegarde said the long-awaited meeting next week in Vatican City is a step in the right direction, but needs to be followed up with concrete action including the retrieval of vital documentation about the operations of the schools.
“I think they’ve got to start the process and start working with the survivors and the families and the different organizations to begin that process of working together to have access to those documents. It hasn't been tried wholly before. So it's got to begin and I think this is a great opportunity now to build on that work going forward,” he said.
The historic meeting, which has been postponed once due to COVID-19 already, will take place between March 28 and April 1. Separate delegations of Metis, Inuit and First Nation leaders will meet with the Pope during that time.
In a press conference Thursday, the AFN said their number one demand to the Pope will be for an official apology on Canadian soil.
