Maskwacis Pope anniversary: One year later, a need for more action

One year ago, Peyasu Wuttunee stood at a sacred fire in Maskwacis, Alta., next to residential school survivors and their family members.

He was there to offer support as people dried their tears with tissues, placed them in paper bags, and burned them.

It was a symbol of healing for some after they listened to Pope Francis speak at length about the lasting harms of residential schools for Indigenous people, and tell the assembled crowd: "I am deeply sorry."

Wuttunee, the manager of Maskwacis counselling and support services, said there was a significant increase in people reaching out for mental-health resources in the two months after the Pope's visit. It was something the organization prepared for, knowing many people would feel the impact of trauma resurfacing.

"My sense is that the younger people had more of a struggle with it," he said of the aftermath of the Pope's apology.

"The older people, or the survivors, at least the ones in attendance, were open to that healing. Whereas the younger generation were a little bit more angry about it, the colonial past."

As a year passes since the pontiff made his "penitential pilgrimage" to Canada, Wuttunee said the apology was one step in a healing journey for some. But it was also just one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 calls to action, and "there's a whole bunch more to go."

After the Pope spoke in Maskwacis on July 25, 2022, he visited the Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples in Edmonton, and travelled to Lac Ste. Anne, a sacred site for several First Nations and nearby Métis settlements, during the annual pilgrimage to the lake.

Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation Chief Tony Alexis said the Pope's apology, and the subsequent repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery this year, fulfil some of the long-standing demands of the head of the Catholic Church.

The Doctrine of Discovery is a legal concept, backed by 15th-century papal bulls, that justified Europeans' claiming of Indigenous lands.

But a year later, "I don't see the true impact of it," Alexis said. "The Church could do more of building that bridge of that reconciliation."

As a chief, he said his responsibility is to reflect the varied reactions and mixed emotions that persist among his people.

"We can go on any one of those paths and each one would have its own story," he said.

"For the Catholic faith, a miracle has happened that Pope Francis came here. For the ones that are harmed, we could say that it's not enough, and so there's much work that needs to be done. And for the ones that practice their ceremonies and so on, for them, they will not be told how to behave again."