Residential school survivors still waiting for next steps a year after papal visit

When Piita Irniq picked up his handmade wooden drum to perform for Pope Francis last year in Iqaluit, he was reclaiming an Inuit tradition that the Roman Catholic Church tried to erase through its residential schools.

"I wanted him to know that this is what you cut off as part of colonialism," Irniq said.

"You thought it was a witchcraft. You thought it was a pagan religion when, in fact, drum dancing has always been a celebration of life."

One year later, Irniq and many other residential school survivors are still waiting for the Roman Catholic Church to outline the next steps it wants to take in repairing its relationships with Indigenous Peoples.

"Nobody has been in touch with me from the church," Irniq said. "It's rather disappointing."

During an open air mass last year at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, Canada's Catholic bishops made a pledge to Pope Francis.

"The bishops of Canada are fully committed to walking together with the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples," Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith said during the July 26 event.

Although some work has been done, there is still no cohesive national plan from the bishops for working with Indigenous Peoples on reconciliation.

Ted Quewezance, a residential school survivor from the Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan, said he personally accepted the Pope's apology for residential schools when he delivered it on Canadian soil in Edmonton. That came after an initial apology made in Rome.

Quewezance said he tried at first to remain optimistic about residential school survivors' prospects for working with the church on reconciliation, but has only grown more frustrated since.

"I really feel I've been used as an individual," Quewezance said.

"The government used us. The Vatican used us. The bishops used us … There's not a peep out of them. It's silence."

Quewezance said he hasn't been able to meet with the bishops to develop a plan for how the church can move forward with survivors and address reconciliation.

"I don't think it really helped our survivors or First Nations across the country," Quewezance said.