'What happens the day after?'; Sask. survivors, church look ahead after Pope apologizes

Terri Roberts and her sister were forcefully taken to a residential school 56 years ago, but on Monday she felt like she was six again.

She says she distinctly remembers the tears streaming down her face as she longed for the love and affection of her parents and family — something even the nicest of teachers at the residential school she was taken to couldn't or wouldn't offer. 

Roberts and her husband, Tom, travelled to Alberta from La Ronge to hear the head of the Roman Catholic Church apologize for the actions taken by church members who supported the assimilation of Indigenous people that ultimately led to the creation of residential schools.

"It was quite emotional for me because, after 56 years, seeing Pope Francis … doing the apology, I couldn't help with the tears, surrounded by people of all nationalities [and] non-native people," Roberts said on Tuesday. 

"I'm a very caring person and tears always seem to put me back in my spot. And … those tears, it brought me back to when I was a little girl, when I had just turned six when I was in the [school]." 

She says she was able to put aside her emotions temporarily to help others who needed some comforting during the event.

Terri says the Pope's apology brought a sense of closure and left her feeling as though years of personal baggage had been lifted from her soul. 

Tom, a residential school survivor and support worker for other survivors, says he had been waiting to hear that apology for a long, long time. 

"It took them so long for them to realize what my people went through for over 100 years," the former CBC personality said through tears. "It shouldn't have happened."

The couple travelled to the James Smith Cree Nation earlier this year, where the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, a leader of the Anglican Church, offered his apology to residential school survivors. 

Both said they felt the Pope's visit to Alberta was a bit less personal than the archbishop's visit in Saskatchewan had been.

They were able to speak directly with the archbishop — Tom said he was even able to hug the prelate — while the Pope was seated well away from the crowd and surrounded by security. 

However, Tom says, he felt their apologies were very similar. 

Even though they didn't get a chance to speak directly with Pope Francis, the couple felt the overall message of the day got through to the Holy See (the government of the Roman Catholic Church, which is led by the Pope as the bishop of Rome) — and his message to those who came to hear him was sincere.