Innu Mount Cashel survivor calls for apology to Indigenous people during Pope's visit to Canada

When Pope Francis conducts a holy mass at the National Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré on Thursday, an Innu man hopes he'll do more than lead the congregation. 

Penote Antuan says he wants to see the Pope apologize for the harm Catholics have done to Indigenous people. 

The Pope apologized to Indigenous delegations in Rome earlier this spring for the role of the Catholic Church in Canada's residential school system, but Antuan, a Mount Cashel Orphanage survivor, says a larger apology is needed to heal.

"I'm hoping to hear Pope Francis, to hear him say that we're sorry. What happened to all people who are Indigenous, people who live in Canada or elsewhere," he said.

"And that will give us a help, at least a help to move away from the burden that we already have."

Antuan was sent from Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation to Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's in 1958 when he was nine. He said he was told it would be for a better education, but that's not what happened. 

"You couldn't imagine how we were treated because we were Innu people," he said.

"I'm 73 now.… My scars are still there. Still there."

Mount Cashel is now infamous for a sexual abuse scandal and coverup. A 2019 court case found the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John's vicariously liable for sexual abuse at the orphanage in the 1940s, '50s and '60s.

Antuan said he still cannot talk about what he experienced at the orphanage. He said he hasn't told his parents or seven children about his experience. 

Antuan said his faith has helped him through it all. He said his faith helped him through suicidal ideation as a young man and he's deeply connected to the Catholic church today. 

"I've never let go of my faith…. Even though, I mean, I've had a heavy burden sometimes," he said.

"When I got older, I got more beliefs in my religion. It's helped me a lot."

Antuan is one of hundreds going to the Feast of Saint Anne outside Quebec City. He said he was one of the people to suggest Labrador Innu join Quebec Innu for the annual pilgrimage. The feast is held each year on July 26 in honour of Saint Anne, believed to be the grandmother of Jesus in Christian and Islamic tradition.