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Canadian Indigenous will meet with pope in hopes of apology

Indigenous leaders from Canada will meet with Pope Francis starting Monday in hopes of securing a papal apology for abuses committed against them by Catholic priests and school workers.
Flags mark the spot where the remains of over 750 children were buried on the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Cowessess first Nation, Saskatchewan, June 25, 2021. - More than 750 unmarked graves have been found near a former Catholic boarding school for indigenous children in western Canada.

VATICAN CITY — Indigenous leaders from Canada and survivors of the country's notorious residential schools meet with Pope Francis starting Monday in hopes of securing a papal apology for abuses committed against them by Catholic priests and school workers.

The meetings, postponed from December because of the pandemic, are part of the Canadian church and government's efforts to respond to Indigenous demands for justice and reparations — long-standing demands that gained traction last year after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves outside some of the schools.

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