Who else has apologized for the abuse?
Though the Catholic church oversaw three-quarters of Canadian residential schools, it was the last church to have one of its leaders officially address the abuse. ‘I am sorry, more than I can say, that we were part of a system which took you and your children from home and family.’—Archbishop Michael Peers, Anglican Church of Canada On April 29, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his “sorrow” to a delegation from Canada’s Assembly of First Nations for the abuse and “deplorable” treatment that aboriginal students suffered at Roman Catholic Church-run residential schools. Assembly of First Nations Leader Phil Fontaine said it wasn’t an “official apology” but added that he hoped the statement will “close the book” on the issue of apologies for residential school survivors. Other churches implicated in the abuse apologized in the 1990s. Archbishop Michael Peers clearly offered an apology on behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada in 1993, stating “I am sorry, more than I can say, that we we
