B.C. Indigenous leaders cautiously await Pope's apology

Pope Francis officially arrived in Canada on Sunday for a long-awaited trip aimed at advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, but some B.C. community leaders don't believe the visit goes far enough to start the healing process.

"What it's saying is, 'We're sorry for beating you, harming your body. And no mention of the soul,'" said Archie Patrick, the former chief of the Stellat’en First Nation.

As a residential school survivor, he said the Pope's visit is frustrating and believes little will come of it.

Patrick added that he feels fortunate to have had a good support system and survived, but many of his friends died at a young age.

"We were spiritual people," he said. "And we prayed, and we gave thanks daily about all aspects of life and the world. And all of that was virtually destroyed mainly through the residential schools and that was sanctioned by the Catholic Church."

The Pope is expected to apologize for a second time for the Roman Catholic Church's role in the cultural genocide carried out in the residential school system, following his first apology at the Vatican in April.

Pressure on the Pope to come to Canadian soil and issue an apology grew after the discovery of what are believed to be 215 unmarked graves at a former residential school in Kamloops last year.

The Pontiff was invited to visit British Columbia, but declined with officials saying the his health played a role in forming his itinerary.

"I thought it was extremely important for him to come here knowing that it was also ground zero of initial findings of the unmarked graves," said Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir of the Tk'emlúps te Secwepemc.

Despite initial disappointment, Casimir now welcomes the visit no matter where it is.

"My hope is to hear a true, meaningful apology that is going to be defining the atrocities that have happened," she said.

And once that's acknowledged, many want to see meaningful action — truth followed by reconciliation.