While there are no ”guarantees,” Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde says he and other Indigenous leaders hope Pope Francis will agree to come to Canada to publicly apologize for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s residential schools.

”There are no guarantees of any kind of apology or anything going forward.  There is no guarantee that he’ll even come back to Canada,” according to Bellegarde.

”But we have to make the attempt and we have to seize the opportunity.”

First Nations, Metis and Inuit leaders will meet separately with the Pope at the Vatican between December 17 and 20, culminating in a final audience on December 20 with the whole delegation.

Bellegarde’s remarks come hours after a First Nation in B.C.’s South Interior said it had found 182 unmarked grave sits near the location of a former residential school.