Pope Francis will arrive in Canada shortly and is expected to apologize for the way Catholics ran residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada.
A team of translators will ensure that no word is lost for those who will receive the Pope’s apology.
Henry Pitawanakwat, from Three Fires Confederacy on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, is part of the team that will translate the pope’s words into Ojibway, an Algonquian language.
From the late 1800s to 1996, Canada removed Indigenous children from their homes and forced them to attend institutions run by Catholic Church personnel, where they were forbidden to speak their language.
Mr. Pitawanakwat’s mother was a survivor of residential schools, which he says also affected him. He maintains that he was also abused and traumatized by Jesuits in his youth.
However, it is important for him not to be overwhelmed by his own feelings when he translates the pope’s words into a language that once brought punishment to children who used it.
“I have to put those feelings aside because I’m a professional translator. I will do my duty and proceed with a correct translation, whatever the subject discussed”, declared Mr. Pitawanakwat in an interview on the eve of the Pope’s arrival for his Canadian visit which will begin in Edmonton.
Archaeologist at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec, Henry Pitawanakwat is a member of the Translation Bureau of the Government of Canada. He has translated federal election debates in 2019 and 2021, as well as an APTN series recently.
Pope Francis, originally from Argentina, speaks Spanish, so another interpreter will translate what he says into English before Mr. Pitawanakwat and other interpreters translate those same words into a dozen indigenous languages.
Internet links will be available for people to listen to the translations in real time.
“Language has always been my passion. I’ve always been interested in her,” said Mr. Pitawanakwat.
“As a young student, I realized that we had a different concept and a different perspective in the language,” he said.
Translating a religious event will pose challenges, says the translator. Many biblical words do not have corresponding words in Ojibwe. He notes, however, that the general context is the same and that the prayers in both cultures are essentially for the same reason, namely forgiveness and letting go.
Although Henry Pitawanakwat remains impartial in the translation process, he hopes to hear more than just an apology from the pontiff.
Preserving indigenous languages is important, he notes, not only to remember the past, but also to look to the future.
“I would like to see funding to help create immersion schools, where we can bring back our own language, because residential schools are where we lost our language and our culture,” Pitawanakwat said. .