Updated yesterday at 10:11 p.m.
(Quebec) Dozens of Indigenous people and thousands of non-Indigenous people gathered on the Plains of Abraham on Wednesday to watch a live speech by Pope Francis, who renewed his apologies for the suffering the system has caused them to endure. colonial boarding schools.
A few thousand people converged on Old Quebec on Wednesday to witness the arrival of Pope Francis. For some – including survivors of residential schools – this visit was both hopeful and difficult, because of the bad memories it stirs up.
Others saw it as a unique opportunity to see the sovereign pontiff in person.
While many crowded behind the metal fences, hoping to receive Pope Francis’ blessing when he rode the popemobile in the early evening, crowds on the Plains remained sparse. The atmosphere was waiting, under a blazing sun.
Apologies renewed
The Pope’s welcoming ceremony, at the Citadel of Quebec, began around 6 p.m. Raymond Gros-Louis, Elder of the Huron-Wendat Nation of Wendake, celebrated the opening. He also offered sweetgrass and a wild turkey feather to Pope Francis.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau then spoke, pointing out that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had called for an apology for the role played by the Catholic Church as an institution in the residential school system. The Governor General of Canada, Mary Simon, then delivered a speech in English, French and Inuktitut.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
Pope Francis with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Governor General Mary Simon and Whit Fraser, spouse of the Governor
Then it was the turn of the sovereign pontiff to speak. Two main criticisms have surfaced since his apology Monday, in Alberta: he never mentioned sexual abuse and assault in Canada’s residential schools, and he never apologized on behalf of the Church as an institution. , preferring instead to ask forgiveness for the evil committed by “many Christians”.
On Wednesday, Pope Francis spoke of a “deplorable system, promoted by the government authorities of the time, which separated many children from their families”, and in which “various local Catholic institutions were implicated”.
“This is why I express shame and pain and, together with the bishops of this country, I renew my request for forgiveness for the evil committed by many Christians against indigenous peoples,” Pope Francis said.
“I find that he had a beautiful posture of humility, estimates Patricia Blanchet, adviser in indigenous pedagogy at the University of Sherbrooke, met on the spot. But we would have liked it to address more the issues of residential schools. We are still at 10,000 children found. »
A little earlier, the Innu chief of the Mashteuiatsh community, Gilbert Dominique, told The Press hope that the moment will “go down in history”.
It is a collective awakening to the terrible page of forgotten, hidden history. It is important that everyone is aware. But the Church must go further in the process of reconciliation. Reparation is not just words.
Gilbert Dominique, Innu chief of the community of Mashteuiatsh
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
Exit of the pope at the end of the ceremony
The hope of seeing the pope
The highlight of the day was on the Plains of Abraham when the Pope rode in the popemobile – a modified white Jeep Wrangler – along a pre-determined route from the Citadel to the stage set on The plains. Hundreds of people thronged to either side, waving to him or holding out toddlers, hoping for a blessing.
Anastasia Kamusuku-Kakola, her little girl and her neighbor Céline Muzuti were among them. On the way from The Press, they expressed their pleasure, as newcomers, to have the Pope’s visit to Quebec. At their side, Lyne Deslauriers and Pierre Boulos, residents of the capital and devout Catholics, were very excited.
We decided to come as soon as the announcement was made in support of forgiveness towards the Aboriginal communities and in support of our religion.
Lyne Deslauriers, resident of Quebec
For others, it is the hope of reconciliation, more than that of the Pope’s visit, that motivates the visit. Marie-Thérèse and Elisabeth Besner, mother and daughter, made the trip to come and ask for forgiveness in person from the survivors of the residential schools, because a member of their family led one.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
Thérèse Thelesh-Bégin, residential school survivor, who was one of the walkers from Mashteuiatsh
They managed to talk to a kukum (“grandmother”, in Innu). They asked for forgiveness and hugged each other. “It was a truly exceptional moment, testifies Mme Besner. It was really touching for us too, because learning all this [l’histoire des pensionnats], it’s traumatic. »
orange wave
The walkers who have covered 275 kilometers on foot from the Pointe-Bleue boarding school, in Mashteuiatsh, in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, for a week, arrived with their sympathizers on the Plains of Abraham in the early afternoon. .
Wearing orange shirts, the color of the Every Child Matters movement, walking sticks and flags in hand, they took to the stage, moved. They were accompanied by the rhythms of a drum made to measure for the occasion and “dedicated to the survivors [des pensionnats pour Autochtones]to the families and children who never came back”, explained on stage the director general of the organization Puamun Meshkenu, Jay Launière-Mathias.
“I feel happy to be here,” said Marie Wapistan, an Innu elder from Ekuanitshit, on the North Shore. I absolutely wanted to come because my husband is a former boarder. »
Pope Francis will celebrate a mass at the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré basilica this Thursday at 10 a.m.
With The Canadian Press