MASKWACIS, Alberta (AP) — Pope Francis's apology for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s abusive residential schools was a full-throated denunciation of a decades long policy of forced assimilation that aimed to strip Indigenous children of their culture and traumatized generations. His remarks are largely being welcomed, with one school survivor and First Nations leader saying the apology “meant a lot to a lot of people.” Another calls it “validation that this really happened.” But some people had hoped to hear more on concrete steps the church intends going forward. And one woman whose mother attended a residential school said some folks are still not ready for reconciliation. In her words, “We just need to give people the time to heal.”
Tribal leaders, members react to pope's apology on schools
