'Picking up the pieces': Indigenous delegates go to Rome to press Pope for residential school apology
CBC
National Inuit leader Natan Obed heads into a private meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday with a simple message: the Holy See must apologize for the church's role in residential schools in order to help the survivors bear the burdens of the past inflicted on the present.
The president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the national organization representing Inuit, spent his career hearing about the harm caused by the institutions.
He said his father attended a non-Catholic residential school in Newfoundland, so he's also lived with the effects of intergenerational trauma.
"It has impacted my life greatly," Obed said. "I understand the necessity of further healing."
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Obed said he plans to invite the Pope to visit the Inuit homeland of Inuit Nunangat, which stretches from Nunavut through northern Quebec to Labrador.
He said he also intends to ask Pope Francis to ensure that those still living who committed crimes against children while employed by Catholic-run residential schools will be brought to justice.
"The most important thing for the Pope to understand is that we are still picking up the pieces," Obed said.
"There is an accountability that doesn't seem to ever go back to the institution, but always rests on those most affected, and especially the descendants of those most affected."
The Pope is holding private hour-long audiences with more than 30 members of First Nation, Inuit and Métis delegations this week.
Métis delegates will meet with the Pope first on Monday, followed by a separate meeting with Inuit and a meeting with First Nations delegates on Thursday.
A mental health support worker will be in the room for these meetings, along with a translator.
The Pope is expected to spend most of his time listening during each meeting, and to make brief remarks in Italian or Spanish.
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