If Pope Francis plans to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s residential school system, the gesture should happen on Saskatchewan soil, according to a First Nations leader.
On Monday, Justin Trudeau met with the Pope in Vatican City and expressed that an apology from the pontiff would aid in the process of reconciliation with Canada’s indigenous peoples.
READ MORE: FSIN invites Pope to Saskatchewan to apologize for residential schools
Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) Chief Bobby Cameron thanked the prime minister for raising the issue Monday and said in an interview that Saskatchewan would be a “meaningful and symbolic” place for the apology to take place.
“We have the highest number of residential school survivors, we have the highest number of cases of abuse here in our region,” Cameron said.
“If he does it in the Vatican it won’t be as heartfelt and genuine.”
READ MORE: Justin Trudeau presses Pope for official apology for residential schools
Residential schools operated in Canada for more than a century, during which roughly 150,000 indigenous children were taken from their homes. Many were abused and thousands died.
In a statement to reporters after his meeting, Trudeau said the Pope “looked forward to working with me and with the Canadian bishops to figure out a path forward together.” The prime minister also indicated that he invited the pontiff to visit Canada.
“For him to come and say ‘yes we apologize and we are so sorry to the survivors, we are with you, we stand beside you, behind you and we pray for you,’ that would be so powerful,” Cameron, who is the son of residential school survivors, said.
“It’ll bring some closure … for my own mom to heal.”
READ MORE: Pope’s apology for residential schools key step for reconciliation: survivor
If a papal visit to Canada occurs, Harry Lafond also hopes a visit to Saskatchewan will be on the itinerary. He said he’s been working for years to bring the Pope to the province.
“He needs to come to Saskatchewan and have an opportunity to say what he needs to say in terms of the historical wrongs that have been done where the church has had some involvement,” Lafond, executive director of the Office of the Treaty Commissioner, said Monday.
However, Lafond said that what follows an apology is even more important and stressed that the church and indigenous people need to establish a relationship directly with each other.
“What is the follow up? What are the actionable items that are going to come out of this initial encounter? How are we going to relate to each other through the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and the indigenous people,” Lafond asked.
“I think it’s absolutely key that we get people from the community actually having an opportunity to have that conversation with the Pope.”