OTTAWA—Chief Kimberly Jonathan had tears in her eyes as she spoke about witnessing more than 250 MPs call on Pope Francis to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in the Indigenous residential school system. Jonathan was on Parliament Hill Tuesday to watch MPs in the House of Commons vote in support of a New Democratic Party motion for a papal apology. “It’s more moving than I can express,” said Jonathan, chief of the Saskatchewan-based Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations. The motion also asked Catholic entities to make “consistent and sustained” efforts to provide documents from the schools to former students who want them. In March, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said the pope would not “personally respond” to the request for an apology issued by the TRC in its 94 calls to action.

Source: thestar May 01, 2018 22:03 UTC