Indigenous community members, allies gather for a day of healing in Waterloo

Healing smoke from medicinal tobacco and sage swirled near a ceremonial fire at St. Jerome's University in Waterloo, Ont., Monday. People gathered there to watch a much-anticipated livestream of Pope Francis' apology for the church's role in residential schools.

"The ceremony is very significant to helping us understand this," said Elder Myeengun Henry, former chief of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation and also the Indigenous Knowlege Keeper for the University of Waterloo, of which St. Jerome's is a part. 

"When we gathered today, that circle made it easier for them to share this experience together and conclude it with the smudging ceremony. So they didn't take all that pain with them. They left a lot of that pain here, but they took the knowledge."

Henry asked attendees to take a small bundle of tobacco wrapped in red cloth and pour onto it their thoughts before watching the livestream with the Pope. Then he instructed them to toss it into the ceremonial fire.

After that, people gathered indoors to watch the livestream of Pope Francis as he delivered his apology in Maskwacis, Alta.

"I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples," Francis said.

He said the memories of the children who never returned from residential schools has left him with a sense of "sorrow, indignation and shame," and repeatedly begged forgiveness for actions of the past.

Francis said his apology is only the first step in making amends with Indigenous people in Canada and that a serious investigation must be conducted into the facts of what occurred in the past.

Indigenous community members looking to the future

Mike Ashkewe, who is Ojibway, acted as firekeeper at the local ceremony. He said as a survivor of the Sixties Scoop, with family who survived residential school, he needed to hear the Pope's apology for himself. 

"It's complicated: I'm not mad, I'm not indifferent," said Ashkewe. "I don't want vengeance, I want justice."

Ashkewe said he wants to know more about exactly how the Pope and the Church plan to help the investigation process. 

"I'd like to know when that process is going to happen, who's going to be involved," he said. "Apologies don't bring back my people that have been wiped out. They don't bring back the dead kids, but a conversation can lead to action."

Kevin George, who is also Ojibway, said he felt emotional watching the Pope apologize for all the pain caused by the Catholic Church.

"I watched that apology and I thought of all the hard lives that all my relations have lived. I've been feeling a shift where we're putting that behind us and shifting forward for the next generations."

He said he is looking forward to what the Pope's apology could bring to the Indigenous community's healing — but at this point, George said it's hard to say if the apology is enough.

"'Enough' is a strange word. It's enough if it means something going forward. It's enough if actions are taken and if the change actually happens," he said.

"So much was taken. The change I want to see is for all of that to be brought back."

Support is available for anyone affected by their experience at residential schools or by the latest reports.

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former students and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.

Mental health counselling and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca.