OTTAWA — Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald says an upcoming Indigenous delegation to the Vatican has been postponed, but others involved in the trip say a final decision has not yet been made.
Archibald made the announcement to a virtual gathering of chiefs Tuesday morning.
Afterwards, a representative for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said that a meeting was underway with Indigenous partners to make a final decision and an update would follow.
Final planning for the trip comes amid concerns around the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, which was first detected in late November.
The Catholic bishops announced in June that national Indigenous organizations, including the Assembly of First Nations, would send a delegation to meet with Pope Francis.
The trip was planned in hopes of seeing the Pope travel to Canada in return and deliver an apology for the role the Catholic Church played in operating the residential school system.
Archibaldsaid Tuesday the delegation planned to travel to Rome the week of Dec.18, but that has been postponed because of the Omicron variant.
"The health and well-being of our delegates, their families and communities is paramount to us and we will not put anyone in harm's way if we can help it."
She said she looks forward to hearing from the Pope when he travels to Canada, which the Vatican said in October he was willing to do.
The Métis National Council, which was also set to send delegates to meet with the Pope, said afterwards that a final decision hadn't yet been made.
Residential school survivors and their families have sought a papal apology for the abuses committed against Indigenous children forced to attend residential schools, which were funded by the federal government, but operated by churches, including the Catholic Church.
The final report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada delivered in 2015 listed a papal apology as one of its 94 calls to action, but it has sat unfulfilled.
A push for the Pope to apologize has re-emerged this year, given the discovery of what are believed to be hundreds of unmarked graves at the former sites of residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
In her address to AFN chiefs Tuesday, Archibald said they have called on the Catholic Church to make different reparations, including returning diocese lands and properties back to First Nations on which they are situated.
She also believes the church needs to provide more money for long-term healing initiatives that exceed the $30 million the bishops' conference promised it would fundraise earlier in the fall.
Archibald says she has also asked that the Pope revoke a 1493 doctrine of discovery, which aimed to justify European explorers' claims on land, and replace it with a decree that "Indigenous Peoples and cultures are valuable, worthy and must be treated with dignity and respect."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2021.
- With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone in Winnipeg
Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press
