Pope Francis during his return to Rome after a six-day visit to Canada (image via Reuters)
Pope Francis says that what happened at residential schools amounted to genocide.
The pontiff made the remarks while on his flight from Iqaluit back to Rome yesterday.
There were several times throughout his six-day visit when he apologized to Indigenous Peoples for the abuses that happened at residential schools.
He asked for forgiveness for the role of the Roman Catholic Church in the institutions.
Speaking through a translator, the pope said that during his trip to Canada, he didn’t think to use the word genocide to describe the events that happened, but later admitted that given the assimilation of Indigenous children, it was the correct one to use.