NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and NDP Critic for Indigenous Services Lori Idlout on Monday in a statement said that New Democrats are hopeful that Pope Francis will issue “a formal apology to survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children.”

Here is the full statement:

Today, we acknowledge that First Nations, Inuit and Métis people continue to live through the impacts and legacy of the church-run, government-funded institutions of genocide that were Canada’s Indian Residential Schools.

We stand in solidarity with the delegations meeting with Pope Francis so that he can hear first-hand how First Nations, Inuit and Métis people experienced residential schools and continue to survive their legacy.

Truth must come before justice. Canada’s New Democrats are hopeful that Pope Francis will show long overdue leadership on the Catholic Church’s role in the Truth and Reconciliation process, including:

* Issuing a formal apology to survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children, in accordance with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #58. Back in April 2018, New Democrats introduced a motion calling on the Pope to live up to this Call to Action and we reiterate that today;

* Working with survivors and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to ensure all documents related to Indian Residential Schools in possession by the Catholic Church are released;

* Using the powers of the Church to ensure that the perpetrators of abuse, including Johannes Rivoire, are held accountable for the crimes they are alleged to have committed. New Democrats have called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to ensure that perpetrators of violence are tried and brought to justice.

Between 1870 and 1997, more than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were forced to attend church-run, government-funded residential schools. These children, their families and their communities are owed an apology and the full cooperation of the Catholic Church into investigations that will bring those who participated in the violence against Indigenous peoples to justice.”