By: Evan Bian

On Monday, Pope Francis, who is the current pope of the Catholic Church, visited a First Nations community in Maskwacis, Alberta. In a speech in front of thousands, the Pope said “I am sorry for the many members of the church who co-operated in residential schools.”

Rain and Sky Eagle Speaker, two 16-year-old twins from the Blackfoot Piikani First Nation, chose not to travel to Maskwacis to witness the event, which was 200 kilometers away. And they didn’t watch the event livestream. Rain and Sky told CBC Kids News they didn’t want to listen to the Pope say what they felt were empty words. Pope Francis already apologized in Rome this spring this time, the twins wanted him to take action.

The Pope did not personally apologize for the role of the Church at large. Instead, he discussed the actions of “members” of the Catholic Church who co-operated with Canada’s policy of residential schools. Rain and Sky noted that the Pope spent a lot of time speaking, but very little time saying what the Catholic Church would do moving forward. They wanted him to repair the damage done by the Catholic Church by admitting his faults and helping with the community.

“I know he said an apology, but that’s really not enough,” said Rain. “Like all of what the Catholic Church did to our people, just saying sorry is putting a Band-Aid over it and it’s not really doing much.”

Some have been waiting many years for the Catholic Church to apologize for their role in residential schools, Rain and Sky feel a range of mixed emotion that include shame. “My people are some of the people who accepted the apology, and it’s very shameful for the rest of us to feel like there needs to be more than just an apology,” said Rain. “The Catholic Church also needs to feel shame for what they’ve done to our people because what they’ve done was really traumatizing.”

Rain and Sky had a shocking reaction when they found out that the Pope received a headdress for the speech. “Where we come from, headdresses are earned, and he didn’t do anything to earn it,” said Rain. “He just kind of showed up and talked,” said Sky. “I kind of felt like, ‘What?! It happened again?’ I was frustrated because like, you know, Justin Trudeau got a headdress and now the Pope has.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received a traditional headdress from the Tsuut’ina First Nation near Calgary in 2016. Rain and Sky hope the pope will take action for his mistakes.