Vatican City: Speaking at the Citadelle in Quebec City at the start of a three-day trip to the province, Pope Francis started an address to Canadians by referring to one of Canada’s symbols: the maple leaf.

Pope Francis recalled Canada's national symbol of the maple leaf, as an occasion to observe that the "large size of the maple leaves, which absorb polluted air and in turn give out oxygen, invite us to marvel at the beauty of creation and to appreciate the wholesome values present in the indigenous cultures."

He noted that Indigenous Peoples have long used maple sap to create “wholesome and healthy syrups,” praising their “industriousness and constant concern to protect the land and the environment, in keeping with a harmonious vision of creation as an open book that teaches human beings to love the creator and to live in symbiosis with other living creatures.”

The pontiff said the world “can learn much from this ability to listen attentively to God, to persons and to nature.

Addressing authorities, diplomats and indigenous in Quebec, Pope Francis decries the "deplorable system" of historic residential schools in Canada, calling it a tragic example of 'cancel culture,' and calls for concretely "promoting the legitimate rights of the indigenous populations and to favour processes of healing and reconciliation between them and the non-indigenous people of the country."

The Holy Father made these strong remarks in his meeting with civil authorities, representatives of Indigenous Peoples and members of the diplomatic corps in Quebec City, marking his first public discourse since arriving in Quebec.

Pope thanked first Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon and then His Excellency Justin Trudeau for their kind words of welcome, and spoke about the "extraordinary natural heritage" of the country and its vast beauty.

During the Pope's week in Canada, where he has shared several powerful moments with indigenous peoples in Edmonton, he expressed commitment to help them.
"The Holy See and the local Catholic communities are concretely committed to promoting the indigenous cultures through specific and appropriate forms of spiritual accompaniment that include attention to their cultural traditions, customs, languages and educational processes, in the spirit of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."

He decried the harms done to erase their culture.

"I think above all of the policies of assimilation and enfranchisement, also involving the residential school system, which harmed many indigenous families by undermining their language, culture and worldview. In that deplorable system, promoted by the governmental authorities of the time, which separated many children from their families, different local Catholic institutions had a part."

The Pope who made a sincere apology to the indigenous in Edmonton, did not shy away from doing the same in Quebec.

"I express my deep shame and sorrow, and, together with the bishops of this country, I renew my request for forgiveness for the wrong done by so many Christians to the indigenous peoples. It is tragic when some believers, as happened in that period of history, conform themselves to the conventions of the world rather than to the Gospel. "

The Christian faith, he recognized, has played an essential role in shaping the highest ideals of Canada, characterized by the desire to build a better country for all its people.
"At the same time," he continued, "it is necessary, in admitting our faults, to work together to accomplish a goal that I know all of you share: to promote the legitimate rights of the native populations and to favour processes of healing and reconciliation between them and the non-indigenous people of the country."

The Pope reiterated that the Holy See and the local Catholic communities wish to concretely promote the indigenous peoples' rights. "It is our desire to renew the relationship between the Church and the indigenous peoples of Canada, a relationship marked both by a love that has borne outstanding fruit and, tragically, deep wounds that we are committed to understanding and healing," he said.

Expressing gratitude for his five encounters in the Vatican to listen to representatives of the indigenous peoples, the Pope said he was happy to renew the good relations now in Canada.

"That history of suffering and contempt, the fruit of the colonizing mentality," the Pope observed, “does not heal easily."

In addition to this apology and this denouncing of the wrongdoings done to Indigenous, the Pope called for multilateralism.

"Multiculturalism is fundamental for the cohesiveness of a society as diverse as the dappled colours of the foliage of the maple trees," he said.
Acknowledging that inclusion of new arrivals can be a challenge and requires accepting and embracing differences, the Pope applauded Canada for the generosity shown in accepting many Ukrainian and Afghan migrants.