Survivors and Indigenous leaders in Alberta welcome Pope Francis’ new apology, but reconciliation process will be long, they say. Today, I listened, I heard, and the pope answered us, testifies with emotion the survivor Angie Crerar. The apology pronounced Monday morning by the sovereign pontiff on Canadian soil was long awaited by the 86-year-old Albertan. The eldest remembers her many discussions with the other children of the St. Joseph’s Indian residential school, also called Fort Resolution, in the Northwest Territories, about a possible visit by the Pope to their establishment when she was little.
I am happy and very grateful, and I thank God for having had the opportunity to see our pope, she adds. A chance that she cannot share with her loved ones who are now deceased. The pope’s request for forgiveness for the crimes committed by many Christians stirs conflicting emotions in Evelyn Korkmaz, another survivor. “Part of me is happy about it. Part of me is sad. A part of me no longer feels anything.
She was a resident of Sainte-Anne Institution in Ontario for four years. The boarding school that had the electric chair, she said. Evelyn Korkmaz reviewed the themes of collaboration, justice and reconciliation presented by the pope during his speech. The survivor nevertheless observes the absence of concrete measures to put them in place. I waited 50 years for that apology, and finally heard it today. I was hoping to hear some sort of plan of how he was going to reconcile. Reconciliation means many different things to people.
The pope could have shown his credentials, she said, by sharing Roman Catholic Church documents about residential schools in Canada. These documents have our history. These documents […] indicate where these lost souls are buried. They identify these children and allow their loved ones to grieve. “Wounds have reopened” Not everyone feels the same, says Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation Chief Tony Alexis. It stirred up trauma and wounds reopened as soon as [Pope Francis] apologized, he explained. There was a sense of hope among the survivors that this apology would heal them immediately. But that cannot happen, he added. He thanked the pontiff for visiting the community of Maskwacis, located an hour’s drive south of Edmonton, which until the 1970s was home to one of the largest residential schools for Aboriginals in Canadian history.
Nevertheless, a long process towards healing must be started by all parties, mainly the Church and the Canadian government, according to him. You can’t just say, “I’m sorry” and walk away. There must be effort, work, and more concrete actions for them to be meaningful, he added. A path to healing The Grand Chief of the Confederacy of the First Nations of Treaty No. 6, George Arcand Jr., also spoke of the birth of an imposing project between the Aboriginal peoples and the Church to repair the wrongs of the past. The pope’s apology was only the first step to being forgiven by our people.
Métis Nation of Alberta President Audrey Poitras agrees. This is just the beginning, she says. She is grateful that the pope issued an apology related to the role of the Catholic Church and residential schools for Aboriginal people. However, the suffering and pain are greater than the sincere words spoken by the pope, she asserts. Our people need resources and opportunities to heal, she concludes. A healing that is more important, according to George Arcand Jr., because a good number of people will continue to experience the impacts of residential schools or this papal visit. “Some will go home and face what was said today.
Some will suffer the consequences of what has happened for years. » The path to reconciliation must be one of equals between all those who had a role in residential schools, he said, “but I am hopeful that the Government of Canada and the [Catholic Romaine] will work with us to find the way forward.