{"id":91496,"date":"2025-04-22T08:21:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T12:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=91496"},"modified":"2025-04-22T08:21:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T12:21:52","slug":"man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Man of compassion:’ Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors on Pope Francis"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brittany Hobson It’s been nearly three years since Pope Francis travelled to Canada to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools. But for some Indigenous survivors, memories of the historic day remain fresh in their minds. “His statements of apology still have a lot of impact to a lot of us residential school survivors,” Piita Irniq said in an interview following news of the pope’s death Monday. The pontiff was 88. Irniq was in Iqaluit in July 2022 for the pope’s final stop in Canada as part of what was described as his “penitential pilgrimage.” The former politician was forced to attend a residential school in Chesterfield Inlet, in what is now Nunavut, where he was stripped of his Inuit culture and language and was abused by… <\/p>\n

\n
\n
This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription – Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>\n
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brittany Hobson It’s been nearly three years since Pope Francis travelled to Canada to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools. But for some Indigenous survivors, memories of the historic day remain fresh in their minds. “His statements of apology still have a lot of impact to a lot of us residential school survivors,” Piita Irniq said in an interview following news of the pope’s death Monday. The pontiff was 88. Irniq was in Iqaluit in July 2022 for the pope’s final stop in Canada as part of what was described as his “penitential pilgrimage.” The former politician was forced to attend a residential school in Chesterfield Inlet, in what is now Nunavut, where he was stripped of his Inuit culture and language and was abused by... <\/p>\n

This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.
Register<\/a><\/div>
Already a member? Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\n'Man of compassion:' Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors on Pope Francis - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Man of compassion:' Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors on Pope Francis - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Brittany Hobson It’s been nearly three years since Pope Francis travelled to Canada to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools. But for some Indigenous survivors, memories of the historic day remain fresh in their minds. “His statements of apology still have a lot of impact to a lot of us residential school survivors,” Piita Irniq said in an interview following news of the pope’s death Monday. The pontiff was 88. Irniq was in Iqaluit in July 2022 for the pope’s final stop in Canada as part of what was described as his “penitential pilgrimage.” The former politician was forced to attend a residential school in Chesterfield Inlet, in what is now Nunavut, where he was stripped of his Inuit culture and language and was abused by\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-22T12:21:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"‘Man of compassion:’ Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors on Pope Francis\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-22T12:21:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":895,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\\\/\",\"name\":\"'Man of compassion:' Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors on Pope Francis - The Turtle Island News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-22T12:21:52+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"‘Man of compassion:’ Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors on Pope Francis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Turtle Island News\",\"description\":\"Your Source for Local News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Turtle Island News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"width\":140,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Turtle Island News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/TurtleIslandNews\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/newsattheturtle\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\",\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynda Powless\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/lynda\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Man of compassion:' Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors on Pope Francis - The Turtle Island News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"'Man of compassion:' Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors on Pope Francis - The Turtle Island News","og_description":"By Brittany Hobson It’s been nearly three years since Pope Francis travelled to Canada to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools. But for some Indigenous survivors, memories of the historic day remain fresh in their minds. “His statements of apology still have a lot of impact to a lot of us residential school survivors,” Piita Irniq said in an interview following news of the pope’s death Monday. The pontiff was 88. Irniq was in Iqaluit in July 2022 for the pope’s final stop in Canada as part of what was described as his “penitential pilgrimage.” The former politician was forced to attend a residential school in Chesterfield Inlet, in what is now Nunavut, where he was stripped of his Inuit culture and language and was abused by","og_url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/","og_site_name":"The Turtle Island News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","article_published_time":"2025-04-22T12:21:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":725,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynda Powless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_site":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynda Powless","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/"},"author":{"name":"Lynda Powless","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458"},"headline":"‘Man of compassion:’ Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors on Pope Francis","datePublished":"2025-04-22T12:21:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/"},"wordCount":895,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["National News","ticker"],"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/","name":"'Man of compassion:' Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors on Pope Francis - The Turtle Island News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-04-22T12:21:52+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/man-of-compassion-indigenous-leaders-residential-school-survivors-on-pope-francis\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"‘Man of compassion:’ Indigenous leaders, residential school survivors on Pope Francis"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","name":"The Turtle Island News","description":"Your Source for Local News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization","name":"Turtle Island News","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","width":140,"height":150,"caption":"Turtle Island News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/newsattheturtle","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458","name":"Lynda Powless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynda Powless"},"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/author\/lynda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91497,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91496\/revisions\/91497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}