(Quebec) The journey of a dozen Aboriginal walkers who walked 275 km for healing and reconciliation ended Wednesday afternoon in Quebec, shortly before the arrival of Pope Francis in the Capitale-Nationale.
Posted yesterday at 5:52 p.m.
“For me, the march was liberating,” said an Atikamekw residential school survivor, Chantal Niquay, after crossing the Plains of Abraham to the applause of several people who came to greet them.
She was the oldest of the nucleus of walkers who left last week from the former boarding school for Aboriginals in Pointe-Bleue in the Innu community of Mashteuiatsh, located north of Roberval, in Lac-Saint-Jean. Mme Niquay attended this establishment, the last of its kind to close its doors in Quebec, in 1991.
The walk allowed him to heal some wounds of this experience and to obtain answers.
“I had my children young and I wasn’t totally there for them, but today I understand why. We give each other so much love,” the 53-year-old expressed.
His presence made it possible to recall the reason behind this march, testified the instigator of the initiative, the director general of the organization Puamun Meshkenu, Jay Launière-Mathias.
“We did it mostly to support residential school survivors. Just to see so many people rally here today, I think it’s mission accomplished,” said Mr. Launière-Mathias, Innu from Mashteuiatsh.
He himself took part in the adventure in solidarity with his maternal grandmother who attended the Pointe-Bleue boarding school.
Mr. Launière-Mathias believes that many of the participants, who are children of residential school survivors, grew up through this challenge.
“They come here with a huge sense of pride; proud to have walked for their community, their family, but also proud to have walked for them. I think it filled them with energy and emotions,” he said.
The walkers had converged the day before at the community of Wendake, from where they left Wednesday morning, accompanied in particular by the Minister responsible for Indigenous Affairs, Ian Lafrenière, and the President of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, Ghislain Picard.
The group then went to the main stage of the Plains of Abraham, where artistic performances take place as part of the papal visit, to witness their adventure.
“We are also, as indigenous peoples, on a pilgrimage, which has seen us go through winds and tides,” Mr. Picard told the gathered crowd.
“The opportunity that presents itself to us today is to find a way to turn the page. Survivors are the only ones, only the only ones, to really judge the value of the apologies expressed by Pope Francis. It is really only up to them and them that the balance sheet all comes back, ”he added.
The initiative was independent of the papal visit, but received support from the organization.
This dispatch was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and The Canadian Press Scholarships for news