'I couldn't stay silent,' says Cree singer who performed powerful message for Pope Francis

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

It was a raw, powerful moment that seemed to stop time — a song performed emotionally in Cree to the tune of Canada's national anthem by an Indigenous woman wearing traditional regalia.

In an interview Thursday with CBC News, Si Pih Ko, also known as Trina Francois, said the song lyrics were an ancient ballad to the land and the village. Other local language speakers have translated it as: "Our creator, keep our sacred land, Canada. Our land here, Canada. Our Sacred Land."

After she sang, over applause and cheering from the crowd in Maskwacis, Alta., Si Pih Ko spoke directly to Pope Francis in Cree, her voice strong in its anguish.

"You are hereby served spoken law. We, the daughters of the Great Spirit and our tribal sovereign members cannot be coerced into any law, any treaty that is not the Great Law," she translated later for CBC News.

WATCH | Si Pih Ko's message to the Pope:

"We have appointed chiefs on our territories. Govern yourselves accordingly. 'Hiy Hiy' does not mean 'Thank you.' It means that I have nothing more to say," she said to the Pope in Cree.

Si Pih Ko hadn't planned to speak during the ceremony to mark the first day of Pope Francis's "penitential pilgrimage" to Canada, but said she had to when the Pope was given a headdress and he put it over his skull cap, or zucchetto.

To her, that was a sign of disrespect.

"Silence is power, but I couldn't remain silent," she said later to CBC News.

In Edmonton, Métis Sixties Scoop survivor Brenda Hatt watched it all, tears running down her face. She said she felt — for the first time — like someone was speaking for her.

"She put her fist up in the air. That is a very strong symbolism across the world. She took a stand," said Hatt, 54.

Growing up in English households, Hatt didn't learn her traditional language, so she didn't understand exactly what was being said.

But she said it resonated deeply.