In his many travels, Pope Francis has never traveled further north than Iqaluit, the capital of the Canadian territory ruled by the Inuit of Nunavut. Friday will be the last leg of his six-day visit to Canada.

It’s a different destination, home to some 7,500 people, but not a single traffic light, roads or trains to connect you to the outside world. Its only Catholic church serves parishioners from at least five continents. More than 100 of them usually occupy the pews of the church on Sundays.

Iqaluit has already hosted world leaders. Queen Elizabeth made a visit of about two and a half hours in 2002, three years after Nunavut was separated from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories to become its own territory.

The similar brief stopover of the pope will not be for the celebration. The pontiff will conclude a visit to Canada centered on an in-person apology for the abuse and disrespect inflicted on the many thousands of Indigenous Canadians – including Inuit children – who attended Catholic residential schools from the late 1800s to the 1970s .

Given the purpose of the papal visit, feelings about it are mixed in Iqaluit, among Inuit leaders and also among the Reverend Daniel Perreault, parish leader of Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption Church. .

He says only a handful of his parishioners are Inuit. Most are from Africa, South America, Asia and other faraway places, have no connection to residential school issues and would like to host the pope on Friday, Perreault said.

But Inuit organizations in the area want the visit to focus on their community, the priest said. “They don’t want it to be a Catholic holiday.”

Iqaluit Deputy Mayor Solomon Awa said the Inuit community – which makes up more than half of the city’s population – is in a whirlwind of emotions. There is gratitude that there is an apology and exasperation that it took so long.

“It will be very exciting for people,” Awa said. “I hope that pushes us forward as Inuit, to the point where we say, ‘Yes, we had a lot of problems in the past, but we have to move on.’

“There are people who still feel sorry for having attended residential schools… some of them still feel resentment for what happened,” Awa said. “They are happy that the pope is finally coming to apologize.”