Victoria Indigenous leaders hope action comes after meetings with Pope Francis

Indigenous delegates from across Canada are in Rome meeting with the pope to unpack the Catholic Church's role in Canada's harrowing residential schools.

Here on Vancouver Island, Indigenous leaders are watching, hopeful that meaningful action is on the horizon.

"By hearing our stories, that's one of the biggest apologies that he can give to us," said Eddy Charlie, a local residential school survivor.

If Charlie could speak to the pope, he'd tell him to close his eyes and imagine the horrors of residential schools.

"What would happen to the Vatican if a nation came into their land and took all their people, removed all their beliefs, removed all their human values… and then did the exact same thing that happened to us?" he said.

Pope Francis heard exactly what would happen from Metis and Inuit residential school survivors on Monday, in the first of a series of meetings in Rome.

He'll meet with First Nations delegates on Thursday.

"Our survivors did an incredible job in that meeting of standing up and telling their truths. They were so brave and so courageous," said Cassidy Caron, president of the Metis National Council.

LINGERING EFFECTS

Cassidy said the speakers highlighted the Catholic Church's role in running most of Canada's residential schools.

An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were forced into them, including Charlie.

"I want the pope to know that there are children and there are adults in our communities still crying because they’ve lost so much," he said.

Lives, cultures, and happy futures were lost to abuse, survivors say.

Charlie hopes that the pope will one day have a chance to tour Canada and speak with survivors.

"(Ask) them, 'What do you want?' And not deciding for them what they can do for them," he said.

PAPAL APOLOGY?

On Friday, the pope is expected to announce his commitment to travel to Canada, where an apology might be issued.

"The challenge with the absence of an apology is almost a denial of truth," said Ron Rice, executive director of the Victoria Native Friendship Centre.

"Without an acknowledgment, we can’t possibly reconcile," he said.

Rice says an apology would be a small but important step on the long path ahead.

"This is going to take us two or three generations to work through all of this from this point forward," he said.

Charlie hopes the healing will come quickly.

"I would want my future grandchildren to have value in who they are," he said. "I don’t want them to feel my pain anymore."