Members of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) will urge Pope Francis on Thursday to revoke centuries-old papal decrees used to justify the seizure of Indigenous land in the Americas by colonial powers.
Two papal bulls issued in 1455 and and 1493 gave the church’s blessing to explorers’ claims to Africa and the Americas.
The Doctrine of Discovery is based largely on those papal bulls, issued by Pope Nicholas V and Pope Alexander VI.
“If you look at our history … what happened since they landed on our shores, then basically it’s genocide,” said Gerald Antoine, Dene national chief-elect and AFN regional
