CBC – Linda Daniels is getting ready to leave Portage la Prairie, Man., to travel to Edmonton for the Pope’s first stop in the Canadian Papal visit.
The 68-year old who was forced to attend the Sandy Bay Residential School is nervous about the emotions she’ll feel if the Pope delivers an apology for the church’s involvement in the residential school system.
“Once he says the apology … I know it’s going to be hard,” said Linda, who was overcome with emotions.
“We are going to heal, the people are going to heal, and they’ll rise up, and it’s going to be a better place for our people.”
Linda is traveling with a Manitoba Assembly of First Nations delegation, and will be accompanied by family — including her brother Ernie Daniels, who is a survivor of the Portage la Prairie Residential School.
This week’s trip to Edmonton won’t be the first time Linda has met the Pope. She was part of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis delegations that went to the Vatican earlier this year.
People travelling great distance to see Pope Francis amid Canada trip
Global News – Susan Enge will be thinking of her mother’s time in a residential school during the long journey south from the Northwest Territories to see Pope Francis in Alberta.
Her thoughts will linger on that legacy and the complexities of being Indigenous and Catholic during the eight-hour drive from her home in Fort Smith to Yellowknife, where she is to join a flight to Edmonton on Sunday.
“Being a strong Catholic, I think it’s important to forgive people for their wrongdoings,” she says.
“It’s a personal choice and a personal journey for everyone who is seeking healing from the Pope’s messaging.”
Il Papa in Canada, ‘mea culpa’ per orrori in scuole indigeni
ANSA – “Incontrare e abbracciare le popolazioni indigene”, dopo che “molti cristiani, compresi alcuni membri di istituti religiosi, hanno contribuito alle politiche di assimilazione culturale che, in passato, hanno gravemente danneggiato, in diversi modi, le comunità native”.
