The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has launched a new webpage on its www.cccb.ca site that traces the relationship of the Catholic Church in Canada with indigenous peoples.

It notes that Canada has more than 1,172,000 indigenous peoples who speak 50 traditional languages.

More than half live in Canada's major cities and about 25 per cent identify as Catholic.

"In addition to the outreach and pastoral ministry by the local diocese, many Canadian Catholic religious communities, men and women, continue to work with indigenous peoples," the CCCB site says.

The site sketches the history of relations with indigenous peoples, many of whom became part of the Church and "gave much to it."

The page also looks at the current relationship between the Catholic Church and aboriginal peoples.