After the apologies, how do you start off on the right foot? Pope Francis did not want to limit his visit to Canada to the request for forgiveness presented Monday, July 25 to representatives of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit, on the first day of his “penitential pilgrimage” of a week. On Tuesday, he outlined avenues that could open a process of ” healing “ between communities still largely traumatized by the consequences of the assimilation policies described by François as “devastating”and the Catholic Church, which has implemented them with zeal and brutality for more than a hundred years in the “Indian Residential Schools”. One of those leads is trying to figure out why it happened.
What better setting to reconnect with a common history than the serene shores of Lac Sainte-Anne, west of Edmonton (province of Alberta)? Several First Nations, including the Nakota Sioux and the Cree, have held it for centuries as a place of healing. In the 19the century, Catholic missionaries saw it as a ready-made instrument of evangelization and, in 1842, a priest established a permanent mission there and renamed it after the grandmother of Jesus, the mother of Mary, an important figure for native Christians. From a place of devotion for the First Nations, the lake has also become one of the most important North American Catholic pilgrimage sites.
“We present to you the disharmonies of our history, the terrible effects of colonization, the inextinguishable pain of so many families. Help us to heal from our wounds”. Pope Francis
This is where the pope went, as many indigenous pilgrims converged on this feast of Saint Anne, many of them wearing orange t-shirts, a symbol of residential school survivors, with the phrase: “Every child matters. » Pushed in his wheelchair (severe knee pain has prevented him from walking for three months), First Nations chiefs walking alongside him, he advanced towards the lake, accompanied by traditional songs and drums.
Then, in gestures combining indigenous traditions and Catholic rites, he made the sign of the cross towards the four cardinal points, he blessed the water of the lake which had been placed in a vase and blessed the faithful with it. “In this blessed place, where harmony and peace reign, we present to you the disharmonies of our history, the terrible effects of colonization, the inextinguishable pain of so many families, grandparents and children. Help us to heal from our wounds”did he declare.
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