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IQALUIT, Nunavut – In the latest stop on a penitential pilgrimage that has drawn mixed criticism from the indigenous peoples he came to see, Pope Francis apologized again to survivors of Canada’s residential schools on Friday, saying it was his hope to “clarify what happened and move beyond this dark past.”
The city of Iqaluit, built on permafrost, marked a fitting end to a somber and unique papal trip aimed primarily at atoning for the cruelty of government-funded schools, most of which were run by Catholic entities.
“I want to tell you that I am very sorry,” the Pope said.
He pointed in particular to the way in which the system, which aimed to forcibly assimilate indigenous children into Christian culture, took children away from their parents and grandparents, a practice he called “evil”.
“Families were torn apart,” Francis, wearing a white jacket, told several thousand people outside Iqaluit’s Nakasuk School.
He delivered his remarks in his native Spanish, translated into English and Inuktitut, in this remote region 200 miles from the Arctic Circle, where residential schools transformed the lives of the majority Inuit population. It was the latest of his several apologies this week.
Pope apologizes for ‘wrong done by so many Christians’ in Canada’s residential schools
Many natives said they were moved by the long-sought visit, especially considering the 85-year-olds. fragility and immobility. They said their willingness to say “sorry” to Indigenous lands was a crucial first step toward healing. But as the week progressed, he faced criticism from indigenous leaders, who said they still expected him to apologize for the Catholic Church as an institution.
“[The apology] fell short,” said RoseAnne Archibald, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, in a televised interview this week after the pope’s appearance in Maskwacîs, Alberta. She was one of the indigenous leaders who greeted Francis when he arrived in the country on Sunday.
Francis apologized personally for the “evil committed by so many Christians”, but not for the church as a whole. Nor did he discuss aspects of the institution that may have allowed him to push a Canadian government policy that the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission said amounted to cultural genocide.
For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families to be placed in residential schools often hundreds of kilometers from their communities. They were forbidden to speak their native language or practice their cultural traditions, and in many cases suffered physical and sexual abuse.
What you need to know about Canada’s residential schools and the unmarked graves that are nearby
Murray Sinclair, the lawyer who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said Francis’ words so far had a “deep hole”.
“It was more than the work of a few bad actors — it was a concerted institutional effort to remove children from their families and cultures, all in the name of Christian supremacy,” Sinclair said.
One of the indigenous people’s main requests is for the church to revoke papal decrees from the 1400s that gave religious support to the conquest of indigenous land in the New World and elsewhere by Europeans.
Although Francis, the first pope from South America, has repeatedly denounced historic colonization and forced assimilation, he has not spoken directly about the Doctrine of Discovery, the policy that emerged from those decrees. Before a mass he celebrated Thursday at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré outside Quebec City, two members of the Batchewana First Nation in indigenous clothing unfurled a banner that read “Repeal the doctrine” .
Pope Francis visits a Quebec that is rapidly shedding Catholicism
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who appeared with Francis at several of his appearances this week, said in a statement that he had discussed with him the need to address the Doctrine of Discovery, but did not elaborate.
Several days before the trip, a Vatican spokesman said there was “reflection” inside the Holy See.
In Iqaluit, a place that “others would consider inhospitable,” Francis said, his parting words were as much about life advice as penance. Addressing the Inuit youth, he spoke about self-confidence, the importance of big dreams, even ice hockey. (“How does Canada win all these Olympic medals?” he asked. “Team spirit always makes the difference.”)
In Quebec City earlier Friday, Francis struck a reflective tone at a morning meeting with about 20 indigenous representatives. He said he had come as a “pilgrim, despite my physical limitations” and that the stories he heard would always “be a part of me”.
“I dare to say, if you allow me, that now, in a sense, I also feel part of your family, and for that I am honored,” the pope said.
“Now I go home very enriched.”
Residential centers banned native languages. The Cree want theirs back.
Francis was on the ground in Iqaluit on Friday for less than three hours. Canada’s northernmost city is the capital of Nunavut, a territory straddling the Arctic Circle that is three times the size of Texas, but has a population of just 40,000 spread over 25 villages and the capital. The widely dispersed communities are connected to each other and the rest of Canada only by plane.
Until the 1950s, the area was of little interest to anyone other than whalers and missionaries. Change and modernization now take place with breathtaking speed.
Nunavut faces both social and environmental challenges. The poverty rate is high and housing is tight. The suicide rate is many times higher than the rest of Canada, and the climate is warming significantly faster than the global average, melting permafrost and putting pressure on water supplies.
Before his address, Francis met privately with residential school survivors. He then joined an event that featured Inuit language and traditions such as throat singing. Organizers said the performers were selected to showcase cultural expressions that residential schools tried, but failed, to completely extinguish. After his speech, a choir sang the Lord’s Prayer in Inuktitut.
Francis managed the trip to Canada despite being nearly immobilized by knee pain. Before his departure, organizers were worried the Vatican might cancel, as he had planned a papal visit this month to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
A Congolese teenager alleged rape by a priest. He had to run away. He can still say mass.
In Canada, Francis essentially moved from seat to seat: his papamobile, his Fiat 500, his wheelchair, relying on assistance every time he got up. The trip proceeded at a noticeably slower pace than others during his pontificate. He held roughly two events a day, instead of the usual four or five. In Quebec, on Friday morning, he used a walker.
“It’s clear he’s making a sacrifice” to be in Canada, said an indigenous attendee at Thursday’s mass. Her birth name is Opolahsomuwehs, but a nun gave her the name Imelda Perley during childhood.
Now 73, a retired linguist and teacher, Opolahsomuwehs said she still needs to “hear more than I feel.”
“I want to know how the church will restore what it took.”