Opening day of the 2008 CCCB Plenary Assembly focused on Aboriginal questions. The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Mr. Phil Fontaine, addressed the Plenary on the need to rebuild the relationship between the Catholic Church in Canada and Native Peoples. The Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, Archbishop Luigi Ventura, awarded Bene Merenti Pontifical Medals to three Aboriginal Canadians – Mrs. Nicole O’Bomsawin from Quebec, Mrs. Shirley Leon from British Columbia, and Judge Graydon Nicholas from New Brunswick – in acknowledgement of their work on the Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council.
