First Nations, Metis and Inuit representatives met privately with the Pope earlier this week, and together they will have a General Audience with him Friday morning. It will be livestreamed through the Metis National Council’s Facebook page at 5 a.m. Saskatchewan time.

Two Ile-a-la-Crosse survivors are part of a three-person delegation from Metis Nation-Saskatchewan. MN-S Vice President Michelle LeClair says they are hoping for an apology from Pope Francis, but they would prefer to hear it on Canadian soil, where the harm was done. The MN-S has invited the Pope to visit the Ile-a-la-Cross Metis residential school which was in operation from the 1820s to the mid 1970s.

LeClair notes that it’s one of the oldest schools in Canada, but Metis survivors and their families have been denied the compensation and recognition from the federal government that others have received. That’s because over the years, the Ile-a-la-Crosse and Timber Bay schools in Saskatchewan’s North were run at different times by the Catholic Church, the federal government and the province. She says the harm from six generations of trauma remain.

Along with an apology, the MN-S would like to see compensation and programs to deal with the multi-generational harm from all three entities. The MN-S has invited Pope Francis to travel to Ile-a-la-Crosse. LeClair explains that it’s the oldest community in Western Canada, and the Church has always been influential in the north.