Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Pope Francis spoke in three First Nations languages at a sacred pilgrimage site hours after his public mass in Edmonton was called a missed opportunity for not including Indigenous culture or traditions.
On Tuesday, Francis joined hundreds of people at Lac Ste. Anne, northwest of Edmonton, and during a church service, wearing a red Metis sash around his neck, said hello in Nakota, Cree and Blackfoot.
"Aba-wash-did! Tansi! Oki!"
Many cheered.
The site has been important to Indigenous people and Catholics for generations. Francis blessed the lake, smiling broadly, and used a traditional wooden tool with a brush on the end to flick some of the water at outstretched hands in the crowd.
The Pope's liturgy included thoughts on the Roman Catholic Church's past and future relationship with Indigenous Peoples, as well as the important role of Indigenous women in their communities.
"Dear Indigenous brothers and sisters, I have come here as a pilgrim also to say to you how precious you are to me and to the church," Francis said.
"I want the church to be intertwined with you, as tightly woven as the threads of the coloured bands that many of you wear."
It was a stark contrast from the earlier mass in front of thousands at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium. There, Francis did not address Indigenous Peoples, cultures or traditions much during the event, despite having delivered an apology a day earlier for abuses at Catholic-run residential schools.
"I just don't know what they were thinking," Daryold Corbiere Winkler, a priest in Ottawa who is Anishinaabe, said about the Edmonton service.
"For me, this is a missed opportunity for a mass to celebrate Indigenous traditions and cultural practices. They just didn't. They did the opposite."
Corbiere Winkler said he was optimistic when the mass started with Indigenous drumming and the popemobile drove Francis around the stadium's football field. The Pope blessed and kissed babies and young children who were handed to him and cheers echoed from the stands filled with thousands of people.
Winkler said his hopes were dashed as the service took a traditional turn. He was devastated when the eucharistic prayer was delivered in Latin, considering residential school survivors were there.
"That's the language they would have heard in residential school," he said. "A lot of survivors, that's the mass they heard when they were children."
Angel Dermit said the rigid mass reminded her of church ceremonies from when she was a child at the Lower Post Residential School in British Columbia.
“When I heard the service, it’s a lot different than how I believe in God and how I believe in Jesus," she said.
The Pope focused his homily, the comments following Scripture readings, on the importance of grandparents and the elderly.
Near the end, he prayed for "a future in which the history of violence and marginalization suffered by our Indigenous brothers and sisters is never repeated."
About 65,000 free tickets were available for the mass but many rows of seats were empty, particularly in the upper decks. Organizers estimated there were about 50,000 in attendance. Hats and clothing commemorating the papal visit were sold near an entrance for between $10 and $45.
During the blessing of the eucharist, a person yelled "repeal the doctrine of discovery" — papal documents used in colonization.
Rose-Marie Blair-Isberg travelled from Yukon to attend. The residential school survivor from White River First Nation, who is Catholic, said it felt like the church was "selling their point of view" during the mass.
Edith Didzena held a photo of her mother, Regina Etthidzine, as she sat in the stadium with her children. Didzena, who lives in Bushe River on the Dene Tha' First Nation in Alberta, said her mother went to residential school but died before she could hear the Pope's apology.
On Monday, during a visit to the community of Maskwacis, south of Edmonton, the Pope apologized to residential school survivors and their families for the role members of the church played in the cultural destruction and forced assimilation of Indigenous Peoples.
Patty Crofton, a member of Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, said she did not sleep well after hearing the apology because it brought back difficult memories. She went to day school and her parents went to residential schools.
“I am on my own healing journey from all of this," she said before the mass.
Eila Harper from St. Theresa Point First Nation in Manitoba said she is Catholic and attends mass every Sunday. She arrived at Lac Ste. Anne about five hours early and had a front-row seat to see Francis bless the lake.
“I was kind of emotional seeing him and thinking of our religion and everything back home,” she said.
“Since he is blessing the water, everybody will be healing."
Francis is to travel to Quebec City on Wednesday and end his visit in Iqaluit on Friday.
The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2022.
With files from Daniela Germano in Edmonton and Kelly Geraldine Malone in Winnipeg
___
If you are a former residential school survivor in distress, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
Additional mental-health support and resources for Indigenous people are available here.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.