Pope Francis on July 25, 2022 apologised to Canada's aboriginal community for the church's cooperation with a government policy to forcibly assimilate indigenous people with Christian society. Between 1881-1996, about 150,000 aboriginal children were removed from their families and sent to residential schools operated by the Catholic Church. Over the years, former students recalled horrific stories of physical and sexual abuse by the priests and nuns who ran the schools, and in recent years, mass graves containing the remains of students who died at the schools have been discovered in parts of Canada. The Pope’s apology was welcomed by some of the survivors, but others are demanding more.
