'I really want him to feel the horror': B.C. chiefs, survivors react to news of forthcoming papal visit
Chief Harvey McLeod already knows what he would say to the Pope, if he ever had the chance to meet him.
"My first words would be, that 'while I was at that school, I talked to your God and told him to leave me alone,'" said McLeod, chief of the Upper Nicola Band and a survivor of the Kamloops Residential School.
McLeod, who has talked openly about suffering abuse, and about how the priests and nuns at the school tried to erase his identity, reacted to news that the pontiff planned to visit Canada, with a sense of relief.
"The church has finally heard," McLeod said.
For Chief Jen Thomas of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, whose father Stanley also survived residential schools, the announcement was a shock.
"Our survivors have been waiting for this and we just thought it wasn’t going to happen," Thomas said, calling her reaction "mixed."
The Vatican has not indicated whether Pope Francis plans to make a formal apology for the Catholic church’s role in running the majority of residential schools.
Those schools, including the Kamloops school, where the unmarked graves of about 215 children were discovered in May, forcibly took more than 150,000 Indigenous children from their families for over a century.
In a two sentence statement, the Vatican said the trip would be a journey "in the context of the long-standing pastoral process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples."
It said the date would be "settled in due course."
Thomas and McLeod agreed that whenever the pontiff visits, and wherever he travels in Canada, they will expect more than words.
"I really want him to feel the horror and the anger that we all feel about how we were treated in these institutions," McLeod said.
"And he's not going to get that until he looks into the eye of a survivor and says 'yes, I hear you and I am I sincerely apologizing,'" he added.
"It’s the actions that we need to see," Thomas said.
"Is the pope apologizing for our survivors, or is he apologizing because he needs to do it for himself?" she questioned.
McLeod, who has talked about his personal journey from anger to forgiveness, said he hoped the visit would provide another opening to undo some of the long-lasting damage done to his family and his community by a system often referred to as cultural genocide.
"What can we do to correct? What can we do to move forward?" McLeod asked.
"In this country we’ve been talking reconciliation, and it’s so easy to use but at the same time so difficult to understand."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NASA hears from Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, after months of quiet
NASA has finally heard back from Voyager 1 again in a way that makes sense. The most distant spacecraft from Earth hadn't sent home any understandable data since last November.
opinion Why you should protect your investments by naming a trusted contact person
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
U.S. Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
Train derailed in Sarnia after colliding with a truck
Police are investigating after a transport truck collided with a train in Sarnia.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.