Eastern Canada Indigenous representatives expected more from meeting with Pope
Global News
The Pontiff had a private audience with 22 delegates of residential school survivors from eastern Canada.
A long-awaited appointment with Pope Francis at the Catholic Archdiocese in Quebec City Friday morning didn’t go according to plan for some Indigenous representatives.
Michelle Shenandoah accompanied Jonel Beauvais to the private meeting to support.
“Thankfully they were able to give me a position in there where I was able to express some things about us that are beautiful,” Beauvais, the granddaughter of a residential school survivor.
According to Shenandoah, she was on an approved list of guests for the meeting, but when they arrived things didn’t go as planned.
“I was asked to leave along with my other sister who is Mi’kmaw,” she told Global News, adding that the third woman was also there to support Beauvais.
The women say the experience wasn’t pleasant because of how they were treated by one staff member at the archdiocese.
“It made me feel a little uncomfortable when the person who’s here to help me get through this is escorted,” she pointed out. “(The staff member) threatened to call security if they did not leave immediately.”
On Thursday, Shenandoah expressed disappointment that she wasn’t allowed to present the Pope with a baby’s cradle board during a ceremony at the Citadel in Quebec City on the Pontiff’s first day in the province.