Here's how some Indigenous youth in Thunder Bay, Ont. are feeling about the Pope's arrival in Canada

A number of Indigenous youth in Thunder Bay, Ont. say an apology from the Pope will mean little to them without concrete action to help Indigenous people heal from intergenerational trauma. 

"It doesn't bring justice or help us," said Melissa Fox, of the apology Pope Francis is expected to deliver next week as part of a Canadian tour aimed at reconciliation with Indigenous people. 

The Pope is expected to arrive in Canada on Sunday, for a tour that will take him to Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit.

It follows his earlier apology this spring, for the actions members of the church played in the residential school system. 

Fox, along with other Indigenous members of the Regional Multicultural Youth Council, a grassroots resource centre for young people in Thunder Bay, expressed skepticism that the papal visit would deliver on what they want to see: real change for Indigenous families harmed by the legacy of residential schools. 

RMYC youth also prepared a statement for CBC expressing their opinions about the visit, directed to Pope Francis. 

"They're only making public apologies because of the media coverage about the unmarked graves at the residential schools across Turtle Island. The last residential school closed in 1996. Why apologize so many years later? It's too late to acknowledge it. Acknowledging it is the bare minimum and it's too late to do the bare minimum," wrote First Nation youth at RMYC.

The youth said they want to see actions to help communities and families along with the apology, and without action to make change an apology doesn't mean anything and reparations don't help with the healing.

They also said due to the acts of colonialism and residential schools, they too struggle with intergenerational trauma.

The youth said many Indigenous people struggle, or know someone that struggles with addiction and isolation, and called inadequate reparations from the government a "murder tactic" even if it may not be the intention.

"They should provide/give us an abundance of resources and safe spaces, food security and clean water across Turtle Island," they wrote.

Teonna McKay said the country has enough resources to help families and today's youth, and there is no excuse for Canadians and the country to ignore the issue moving forward.

"I see many people outside of the Indigenous race complain about the representation of my people such as homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and the inability to create healthy lifestyles and relationships. However there is more to the story, the side that was hidden with money and ego. To be born Indigenous means to be born in grief, pain, and unhealthy examples of living," said McKay.

McKay states for people to be blind to the intergenerational trauma affecting Indigenous people has been lethal.