“With shame and unambiguously, I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the indigenous peoples,” the 85-year-old pope said while speaking near the site of two former residential schools in Alberta, Reuters reported.
Francis also apologized for Christian support of what he called the overall colonizing mentality of the times, calling for a serious investigation into what happened in the past and to help survivors experience healing from the traumas they faced.
Canada’s state-sponsored residential schools hosted more than 150,000 indigenous children between 1881 and 1996, where the culture and language of the indiginous people were banned.
These children were separated from their families and brought to the schools where they were beaten and faced malnutrition and sexual abuse.
The issue came under the spotlight in 2021 when remains of 215 indigenous children were discovered at a former residential school in Canada’s British Columbia province.
In the following months, the discovery of the remains of hundreds more children at other former residential schools across the country made the headlines.
Canada’s indigenous population includes First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities, which according to a 2016 census, make up 5 percent of the whole population of the country.
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