Pope acknowledges need for 'concrete action' in mending relationship with Indigenous people
CBC
The sounds of First Nations drumming and Métis fiddlers echoed across the shores of Lac Ste. Anne in Alberta, as Pope Francis arrived at the national historical site Tuesday for an annual pilgrimage significant to many Indigenous people.
The Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation call the lake Wakamne, or God's Lake. The lake has long been sacred to several First Nations in the region, as well as nearby Métis settlements.
It became a Catholic pilgrimage site over 100 years ago, and a national historic site in 2004.
"I have been struck by the sound of drums that accompanied me wherever I went," the Pope said in Spanish, with English translation displayed on screens across the Lac Ste. Anne shrine.
"This beating of drums seems to echo the beating of so many hearts: hearts that, over the centuries, have beat near these very waters; hearts of the many pilgrims who walked together to reach this 'Lake of God.'"
This is the second time Josephine and John Echodh travelled to see a Pope. They are Denesuline, from Black Lake, Sask., and were in Fort Simpson, N.W.T. when Pope John Paul II visited Canada in 1987.
"I feel great," said Josephine, adding that she's celebrating 38 years sober thanks to her faith.
They have embarked on the Lac Ste. Anne pilgrimage many times in the 58 years they've been together.
"I walked in 1996 from La Loche to here … 41 days," she said.
Brenda Harwood and her sister came to Lac St. Anne for the first time. The pair drove up from Calgary with their mom and great-grandmother in mind.
"What brings me here today is reconciliation and moving forward," said Harwood, a member of the Metis Nation of Alberta Region 3.
"My mom went to church school in Saskatchewan and we felt that it was important that we came today."
"Her grandmother walked to Lac St. Anne when [my mother] had cancer, and so we felt it was important to come back here today," she said, adding that her mother recovered.
Harwood says they leave feeling deep emotions — hopeful that there will be healing after the Pope's visit and that maybe, one day, she will walk the pilgrimage.
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