EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Pope Francis has landed in Canada, beginning a historic visit to apologize to Indigenous peoples for abuses by missionaries at residential schools.
The trip is a key step in the Catholic Church’s efforts to reconcile with Indigenous communities and help them heal from generations of trauma.
Francis kissed the hand of a residential school survivor as he was greeted at the Edmonton, Alberta airport by Indigenous representatives, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mary Simon, an Inuk who is Canada’s first Indigenous governor general.
On Monday, the pope is meeting with school survivors in Maskwacis, where he is expected to deliver an apology.
Indigenous groups are seeking more, though, including access to church archives to learn the fate of children who never returned home.
