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| Photo Credit: AP. |
Thousands of indigenous people are gathering to hear an apology from Pope Francis for decades of school abuses in Canada.
The indigenous people will converge Monday on the small Alberta prairie community or Maskwacis as the Pope makes a historic apology for generation of abuse and cultural suppression at Catholic residential schools across Canada, The Associated Press reports.
Pope Francis
will arrive at the site of the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School which is now in ruins and
will also stop at the sites of the former school and nearby cemetery. He is
expected to speak to school survivors and relatives in a large open area.
The
Associated Press reported that the Catholic Pope arrived Sunday in Edmonton and
was greeted by representatives of Canada’s three main indigenous groups – First
Nations, Metis and Inuit as well as political and church dignitaries.
Thousands of children forcibly taken from their homes
Thousands of children were separated from their families starting from the 19th century to
the 1970s and forced to attend state-funded Christian schools. The main
objective was to isolate the kids from the influence of their homes, Native
languages and cultures and assimilate them into Canada’s Christian society. But
most of the children were subjected to sexual abuse and other predatory
activities which the Canadian government has acknowledged.
Francis will
also visit Alberta, Quebec City and Iqaluit, Nunavut during his six day trip.
Thousands of
the children forcibly removed from their homes died from disease, fire and
other causes as evidenced in the discoveries of hundreds of potential burial
sites at former schools in the past year, The Associated Press reported.
Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to attend the event in Maskwacis along with
other government officials.