Indigenous Canadians have formally asked Queen Elizabeth of England to apologize for the role of the British monarchy in Canada’s Boarding Schools, boarding schools established by the Canadian government to assimilate the Indigenous population.

According to Canadian media today, the leader of Canada’s Indigenous people, RoseAnne Archibald, met Prince Charles of Wales, who is touring Canada with his wife, Duchess Camila of Cornwall, on Wednesday evening and apologized to him.

Prince Charles has not pledged to apologize, Archibald revealed.

The meeting took place during an official reception held Wednesday evening in Ottawa, at the residence of the Governor General, Mary Simon, who exercises the functions of Head of State of Canada on behalf of the British monarch.

The Indigenous leader, who represents the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), said she told the heir to the British throne, and future monarch of Canada, that the request for an apology “was not a request policy” and that it would help the victims. .

“I asked him for an apology from his mother, the Queen, head of the Anglican Church, for what happened in the institutions of assimilation and genocide. I also asked him for an apology for the failures of the Crown in the relationship we have (with the royal family),” Archibald said.

The indigenous leader also explained that in his response, Prince Charles of Wales acknowledged that those responsible for the relationship had failed in the past.

Archibald added that the words of Prince Charles of Wales are not enough but they are a positive first step.

Upon receipt, the AFN released a statement formally asking Queen Elizabeth, who is also the monarch of Canada, to apologize for breaching the treaties the British monarchy signed with the country’s indigenous peoples during colonization. as well as for the establishment of school residences.

Archibald recalled that between 1820 and 1996, the Anglican Church of Canada operated nearly 40 boarding schools in which Indigenous children suffered systematic physical, psychological and sexual abuse.

Pope Francis and the Government of Canada have already apologized for their role in the school residences, in which some 150,000 indigenous children were forcibly interned for the purpose of assimilation.

Pope Francis will visit Canada in late July to personally apologize for the actions of the Catholic Church, which ran dozens of government boarding schools.