Pope Francis began the Quebec section of his penitential pilgrimage on Wednesday after presenting the Church’s apologies to First Peoples in Alberta. And while the Holy Father arrived in Quebec in search of forgiveness for the crimes of the past, indigenous pilgrims also reached the capital, after having traveled 275 km on foot, determined to pave the future of their nation at a safe distance from the precepts Catholics.
The sovereign pontiff landed as planned in the middle of the afternoon. As soon as the ceremonial handshakes were over, the papal procession headed for the Citadel of Quebec, where Governor General Mary Simon and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in particular, were waiting for him.
The Plains of Abraham had dressed up for large crowds for the occasion. At 4 p.m., however, barely 1,000 onlookers gathered along the route that the popemobile and its famous passenger were to follow later.
A pilgrimage of resilience in Quebec
When Pope Francis landed in Quebec, 38 years after his predecessor John Paul II, another pilgrimage – of resilience, this one – came to an end. Thirteen indigenous walkers who left Mashteuiatsh last week arrived at the end of a 275 km crossing, six nights on camp beds, three storms, scorching temperatures and a number of blisters on their feet as a result, a ransom of a path of healing not without pain, both literally and figuratively.
In the capital, a hundred partisans had filled their ranks. Among the troop: a minister, a great chief, several former residents and, above all, the hope that this youth on the move will write an Aboriginal history free from the traumas inflicted on their ancestors.
“Six days ago, we were 13 foreigners from different nations. Today, we are one big family,” says Mitish Amélie Girard-Bégin, 38-year-old Innu walker and bachelor of business administration. At his side, Jay Launière-Mathias, general manager of the Puamun Meshkenu organization at only 28 years old, opines. “We have a role to play in the future of our nations, including that of proving that collaboration is possible between us. »
The process behind the march was one of reconciliation. Before the departure, elders from Mashteuiatsh had recounted the wounds inherited from residential schools for Aboriginals — stories of stolen, sometimes raped, childhoods told by adults still in search of peace more than half a century later.
Chantale Niquay, former resident, participated in the march from Mashteuiatsh. Alcoholic even before adolescence, she has been sober for a long time, but still had some demons from the past to abandon in the heart of the Parc des Laurentides. “I feel liberated, it’s indescribable,” she says. The papal visit, for her, relieves less than the pilgrimage made with her family. Along the way, she watched as Indigenous youth held high the flag of their nations, proud of their origins, as they instead learned to be ashamed of them as a child. “They are so beautiful, these young people! she says, excited for the future.
Another walker, Billy-Ray Chachai-Piché, walked for his mother and grandmother, both residential school survivors. “I wanted to bring pride to the women in my family,” he explains, massaging his aching feet. A way for him to lift the veil that darkened the eyes of his elders – when his mother, “silent, as if absent”, stared into space, he says.
A future without the Church?
For the Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, Ghislain Picard, this new generation embodies the end of Aboriginal contrition.
“Guitarist Robbie Robertson once said a phrase that stuck with me. He had said that to come into the native world was to come into the world in failure, that it was to be born to fail. At the time, it was a mentality very much ingrained in popular belief. The role of my generation was to carve out a place for Aboriginal issues in the public space and to reverse this perception. The role of the coming generation is to occupy this place. »
The Catholic Church, among young Aboriginals as well as young people in general, no longer has the prestige that once held it in its halo. “The pope, I respect what he represents, he is a head of state after all, says Jay Launière-Mathias. But personally, I wonder if his Church has a role to play in our future…”
In search of reconciliation
A few minutes before his passage on the Plains of Abraham, first scheduled for 6:15 p.m., but finally delayed an hour, the Holy Father appeared surrounded by dignitaries on the giant screens erected on the former field of battle. A few thousand people, many from cultural minorities, many with graying hair, were waiting for him outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Catholic monarch in the flesh for a few seconds.
Governor General Mary Simon, in a speech that left a hesitant place in French, invited the sovereign pontiff to extend his reconciliation effort through concrete gestures. “You said, at the Sacred Heart Church [d’Edmonton], that reconciliation is a grace to be grasped. I would add that reconciliation must also be earned through concrete gestures and dedication,” said the woman of Inuit origin.
The Holy Father has renewed his request for forgiveness. “Meeting the indigenous representatives a few months ago in the Vatican left me with indignation and shame at the suffering inflicted on their people,” he said in his native Spanish, comparing Canada’s multiculturalism to its iconic maple leaf, able to accommodate “all the colors of diversity”.
Pope Francis finally took his walkabout shortly after 7 p.m.
As he strolled to the sound of drums and the songs of the First Peoples resounding on the Plains of Abraham, two men unrolled a banner. “The Sisters of Charity, without pity for the children of Mont d’Youville. Together for our aboriginal brothers “, it was written there, in reference to an orphanage of Quebec today targeted by a collective action.
A little reminder for the Holy Father that in Quebec, the abuses and violence of the Church have not only bruised Indigenous children — and that its victims, now adults, are also demanding apologies and compensation.