'A place to start': Metis historian hopeful meeting with the Pope helps open residential school archives

A Metis historian in Saskatchewan is hoping for more than an apology from Pope Francis as Indigenous delegates visit Vatican City this week.

Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors are in Rome for meetings with the pope, hoping to secure a papal apology for the Catholic Church's role in Canada's residential school system.

A total of 32 delegates representing the First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities have travelled to Rome alongside family members and others providing support.

Calvin Racette, a retired educator and historian, said those who are visiting are representing people and children who had no voice.

“I think they’re looking for a process – a place to start,” Racette said. “We need to start a dialogue rather than arguing and pointing fingers. You can’t change what happened. What you’ve got to do is move forward.”

There have been calls for Pope Francis to make an apology to the delegations, but Racette said he hopes to see more than that.

“The most significant thing would be for the church to say, the Pope to say, is ‘yes we were wrong. I apologize’ and as a result of that, the church is willing to open their archives and identify those babies and move forward and identify lots of the nasty things in history that have happened,” Racette said.

Regina Archbishop Donald Bolen, who is accompanying the Indigenous delegates in Rome, said religious communities in Rome might have records as opposed to the Vatican.

“Everything that we would have that would assist in telling that story would be a helpful thing to contribute,” Bolen said.

“There is a profound desire to assist in any way we can in this regard. It’s conversations that need to happen with particular religious communities or dioceses or any places where any pertinent records might be held.”

Racette said people in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba will likely be watching how the meetings play out closely due to their deep history with residential schools and the 60s scoop.

The First Nations delegations, which is the largest group attending meetings this week, are scheduled to meet with Pope Francis on Thursday.