BREAKING: Trudeau says 'as a Catholic,' he is 'deeply disappointed by position Catholic church has taken' on residential schools

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked on Friday why he has not put more pressure on the Catholic church to release their records on residential schools, following the discovery of the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia.

Trudeau responded that "As a Catholic," he was "deeply disappointed by the position that the Catholic church has taken, now and over the past many years."

"When I went to the Vatican, a number of years ago, I directly asked His Holiness Pope Francis to move forward on apologizing, on asking for forgiveness, on restitution, on making these records available, and we're still seeing resistance from the church, possibly from the church in Canada," he said.

"I think it's going to be a very important moment for all of us, particularly Catholics across the country, to reach out at our local perishes, to reach out to bishops and cardinals, and make it clear that we expect the church to step up and take responsibility for its role in this, and be there to help in the grieving and healing, including with records, that is necessary," said Trudeau.

"It's something a number of other churches, the United church and others have done. It's something we're all still waiting for the Catholic church to do," he concluded.