Pope Francis arrived in Canada this Sunday for a “penitential pilgrimage” during which he would apologize to indigenous survivors of abuse committed in residential schools run by the Catholic Church.
(Also read: ‘Penitential Pilgrimage’: Pope Francis leaves for Canada)
The 85-year-old Argentine pontiff landed in Edmonton, western Canada, beginning the first of the three stages of his journey. He was received, upon leaving the plane, by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and by the Inuit Mary Simon, representative of Queen Elizabeth II.
Francis will also go to Quebec and Iqaluit, the capital of the territory of Nunavut, a city in the north of the country, on the Arctic archipelago, before returning on Friday.
Prior to his departure from Rome, the pope sent a message on Twitter to his “dear brothers and sisters in Canada.”
(You may be interested: Indigenous Canadians expect Pope to apologize for abuse in schools)
“I come among you to meet with the indigenous peoples. I hope that, with the grace of God, my penitential pilgrimage can contribute to the path of reconciliation already begun. Please join me in prayer,” he wrote.
On the plane, he insisted to journalists about the penitential nature of his visit, dedicated mainly to the native Amerindian populations that today represent 5% of the inhabitants of Canada and who are identified in three groups: First Nations, Metis and Inuit.
I come among you to meet with the indigenous peoples
These last were subjected for decades to a policy of forced assimilation, fundamentally through a system of children’s pensions, subsidized by the State but administered mostly by the Church.
Some 150,000 Aboriginal children were enrolled from the late 19th century to the 1990s in 139 residential schools, where they spent months or years isolated from their families, language and culture.
Many of them were physically and sexually abused by principals and teachers and as many as 6,000 died from illness, malnutrition or neglect.
Canada is slowly opening its eyes to this past described as “cultural genocide” by a national commission of inquiry.
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‘Too late’
“This historic visit is an important part of the healing journey,” but “much remains to be done,” George Arcand Jr., Grand Chief of the Treaty 6 Confederation of First Nations, said Thursday in Edmonton.
The Argentine pontiff, who plans to reiterate the apologies presented in Rome to the Canadian delegations who visited him in April, could also carry out some symbolic gestures, such as the restitution of indigenous art objects preserved in the Vatican for decades.
On Sunday morning, the city of Edmonton, towards which numerous survivors of the pensioners converged, was preparing to receive Francisco, who on Saturday had to use a lifting platform to board his plane in a wheelchair.
With more than ten hours of flight, it is the longest trip undertaken by the pope since 2019.
After a day of rest on Sunday, Francis will meet for the first time with members of indigenous peoples on Monday morning in Maskwacis, Alberta province, some 100 kilometers south of Edmonton, where up to 15,000 people are expected.
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Alberta was the province with the highest number of boarding schools.
“I would like a lot of people to come” so “they realize that nothing is made up,” said Charlotte Roan, 44, a resident of this poor community.
Others have a sour look on this visit. “For me, it’s too late because a lot of people have suffered,” laments Linda McGilvery, a 68-year-old resident of the outskirts of Saint-Paul (200 km east of Edmonton), who spent eight years of her childhood in boarding school.
“I lost a lot of my culture, of my ancestry,” laments this woman from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation who will not go to see the pope.
On Monday afternoon, the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics is scheduled to deliver a second address at the Church of the Sacred Heart of the First Peoples in Edmonton.
And on Tuesday he will celebrate mass at an Edmonton stadium where some 65,000 people are expected, before heading to Lake Sainte-Anne, the site of a major annual pilgrimage, where he will meet former students from the residential school, before returning to Rome. .
In total Francis will deliver four speeches and four homilies, all in Spanish
Francis is the second pope to visit Canada, after John Paul II.
*With information from AFP
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