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NWT - Without the word "sorry," Pope Benedict XVI's expression of regret for the Catholic Church's role in residential schools is not an apology, according to Tom Beaulieu.

The Pope expressed "deep sorrow" Wednesday for the abuses committed against aboriginal students at the Roman Catholic Church-run schools.

Tom Beaulieu, MLA Tu Nedhe: Apology not an apology, fell short - NNSL file photo

Without the word "sorry," Pope Benedict XVI's expression of regret for the Catholic Church's role in residential schools is not an apology, according to Tom Beaulieu.

The Pope expressed "deep sorrow" Wednesday for the abuses committed against aboriginal students at the Roman Catholic Church-run schools. "I know it was short of an apology and that's all I've heard," Beaulieu said.

He said he had heard limited information about the actual apology as he is travelling to Edmonton.

"By now there has been enough out in the media about the devastating impacts of residential schools and it seems they aren't ready to actually apologize for it yet," Beaulieu said.

The Pope's comments came during a private audience at the Vatican with an aboriginal delegation, which included Assembly of First Nations Leader Phil Fontaine, aboriginal elders and residential school survivors, like Joachim Bonnetrouge of Fort Providence. Speaking in Italian and through a translator, the Pope "expressed his sorrow at the anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the church and he offered his sympathy and prayerful solidarity," according to Vatican officials.

K'asho Got'ine Chief Frank Tseleie, a residential school survivor, said he's happy to finally hear the Vatican's admission of responsibility.

"It's consistent with the process that's been adopted, where you reconcile all the wrong that's been done to us with the institutions," the Fort Good Hope chief said. "It's quite nice to hear about it. It's been long overdue. I come from a community here that has been traumatized by those institutions for too long."

Tseleie said the abuse of his people started around the 1860s, during the times of Emile Petitot - a French missionary and scientist.

"We've been traumatized for almost 150 years," he said. "The abuse of our people started way back in the 1860s. This apology has been a long time coming."

But Beaulieu said the church should do more to reconcile the attempted assimilation of some 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis taken to residential schools, where they experienced much trauma and forms of abuse.

"They should actually do more, but I don't expect it to happen - that's most likely all we will get," Beaulieu said.

He said it's possible those who have been severely traumatized by the schooling experience might seek more than just the sorrow the Pope expressed.

"I do know a lot of aboriginal students who did go through a lot of trauma in the schools and don't feel they been sufficiently compensated to this point," he said. "If they don't get it it's possible some factions of the residential school people could try to take it further or maybe look for more compensation."

Tseleie said he has a greater sense of closure due to receiving this Papal statement several months after a formal apology from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Canadian government. But he said those who dealt with extreme abuse still have work to do.

"For those of us who have received an apology from Canada last year, people like myself are finally discovering what that apology is about on a broader scale, aside from the individual traumas we went through," he said. "Those who were extremely abused are still pursuing a way of settling with the institutions, either Canada or the churches. For them I believe it's not settled yet, there is still much to be done.

"This is a mark on Canada's record the way they've been dealing with us will become a historical footnote 50 to 100 years from now," Tseleie said. "It's important for it to not be a footnote."