'To remember those who have already gone': Quebec Cree prepare for Pope visit
CBC
Cree survivors from northern Quebec choose different ways to engage — or not — with Papal visit.
Some Cree survivors have made the trip to Quebec City to be among hundreds of people gathered to hear the pope's address late Wednesday on the Plains of Abraham.
Some, like Clara Napash from Chisasibi, are part of the official Cree delegation meeting with Pope Francis at the Citadel in Quebec city.
"I'm doing this to remember those who have already gone home to the spirit world, also, those who never made it home. I am grateful to be here in person on behalf of all survivors," said Napash on the Grand Council of Crees Facebook page.
Clara Napash was first sent to residential school on Fort George Island, near present day Chisasibi at the age of two. Fort George was the site of the first two residential schools in Quebec; St. Philip's, which operated from 1933-1975 and the Fort George Roman Catholic Residential School (also known as Ste-Thérèse-de-l'Enfant-Jésus), which operated from 1937 to 1981.
Youth delegate Allison MacLeod from Mistissini joined Clara Napash as guests of Cree Grand Chief Mandy Gull-Masty, who also met with Pope Francis Wednesday at the Citadelle, a fortress overlooking the Plains of Abraham and the St. Lawrence River, bordering the old city.
Governor General Mary Simon and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also greeted the Pope at the Citadelle and before heading inside for private meetings.
Wednesday evening Pope Francis also delivered a public address from the Citadelle which was broadcast on large screens on the plains.
He was also expected to tour the Plains of Abraham, along George VI Avenue East, before heading toward the Archdiocese of Quebec, not far from the Château Frontenac hotel.
The events in Quebec city were delayed Wednesday to allow Indigenous leaders and guests on a delayed charter flight from Edmonton to attend the ceremony.
A busload of survivors from Cree Nation of Mistissini made the trip to Quebec City to hear Pope Francis' address. Other survivors also made the trip from other Cree communities such as Oujé-Bougoumou, Waswanipi and Waskaganish.
"I said, why not?" said Waskaganish survivor Charles Esau. "I think I'm coming to a full circle of knowledge about the whole effects of trauma … the root causes."
Esau also said it was important for him to be "a helper" and attend to support all of the residential school survivors.
He said a lot of people are critical of the Pope's visit to Canada, but Esau feels that some good can come from it.
2 women who died trying to save turtle on road in Chatham-Kent, Ont., remembered for love of animals
It was a shock to Dorothy Suliga when she learned that her mother, Teresa Suliga, and her aunt, Elizabeth Seremak, had been struck and killed by a vehicle on a rural road in Chatham-Kent.