On March 31, Pope Francis met with 20 delegates from the Assembly of First Nations. The audience came three days after a similar meeting with Inuit and Métis leaders from Canada.

The Inuit are indigenous people from the Arctic region; the First Nations, from the rest of Canada. The Métis are of mixed indigenous and European ancestry.

“Our preference is for the Holy Father to come to Canada and apologize on Canadian soil, and do it on one of our territories,” said Phil Fontaine, a member of the First Nations delegation. “That is our hope and wish, and we made that very clear to the Holy Father.”