(OTTAWA) Federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday that Pope Francis’ trip to Canada is still planned, at this time, but that the church leader’s health is “extremely concerning.”
Posted at 11:42
The Vatican announced last week that the 85-year-old pope is postponing a trip to Africa to avoid cutting off treatment on a knee.
His trip to the Congo was scheduled to take place July 2-7, just weeks before his planned visit to Canada to deliver a long-awaited apology to First Nations, Métis and Inuit people for the role the Catholic Church has played in the management of federal residential schools.
An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend these church-run, federally-funded institutions, where physical and sexual abuse, as well as general neglect, were rampant.
Pope Francis had apologized to members of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis delegations who came to meet him at the Vatican earlier this year, but survivors hope to see him apologize on Canadian soil.
Minister Miller says Pope Francis’ trip to Edmonton, Quebec and Iqaluit is still planned, but admits his “poor health is of extreme concern.”