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IQALUIT - When Peter Irniq participated in a mass in Vatican City in Rome on April 28, it was the first time he had been spiritually involved with the Catholic Church in 30 years.

Before his visit, he had only attended church during funerals.

Former Nunavut Commissioner Peter Irniq, left, poses with Phil Fontaine, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, in Vatican City in April. - photo courtesy of Peter Irniq

"When we went to mass it was my first time since 1979 where I actually sought guidance from higher beings and the creator," said Irniq, who had attended Sir Joseph Bernier Residential Day School in Chesterfield Inlet.

"I figured it was time to make peace within myself, it was time to make peace with my parents, they both died in 1971. It was also time to make a more meaningful relationship with the Roman Catholic Church."

Irniq was a guest during Pope Benedict XVI's recent statement expressing sorrow to residential school survivors on April 29. He said that even though the statement wasn't specifically aimed at Inuit, he accepted it.

"Now I can speak about what happened to us at the residential school with much greater confidence and move everything forward," he said.

The Pope's statement was made during a private audience with the Assembly of First Nations, including National Chief Phil Fontaine.

Mary Simon, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, was also a guest of the Assembly of First Nations during the visit to the Vatican.

"I was there at the invitation of Phil Fontaine, who had arranged this visit and had worked on it for two years and Inuit were not specifically part of it," she said. "But I wanted to be there to see firsthand what happened."

She said while she was disappointed Inuit were not specifically addressed during the statement, she was happy for the Assembly of First Nations.

"I have to congratulate Phil Fontaine," she said. "As a national leader I was pretty disappointed that we weren't a part of it, but you have to give people credit where it's due and I know that Phil had worked on this a lot."

Larry Audlaluk, a resident of Grise Fiord, said the statement fell short of an actual apology.

"It still came very close to the word they were looking for - apology - but it still wasn't exactly what they wanted," Audlaluk said. "I would like to encourage Canadian aboriginal people's leadership not to leave it at that and keep trying."

Simon said she is hoping to invite the Pope to come to Nunavut and give a statement to Inuit residential school survivors, but said it could take years to organize such an event.

"We hope once we have a discussion with our board that we can send an invitation for the Pope to come to the Arctic and address the survivors," she said. "But it's very hard to predict how that might turn out because it takes, I think, a couple years for anything to develop with the Vatican."