Maritimers respond with mixed reaction to papal visit on its last day

Pope Francis’ words are still being received with mixed reaction on the last day of his visit to Canada.

Alan Knockwood, a survivor of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, travelled to Quebec to see the Pope.

He says he is still processing the experience.

“I was trying to fathom why the apologies seem to be so light,” Knockwood said. who was hoping to hear something concrete.

“I feel halfway there.”

Until Thursday, Pope Francis failed to mention sexual abuse even though Indigenous children in residential schools suffered from this type of abuse, as well as neglect and malnourishment.

Knockwood sees the apology as a sort of opening of a door.

“That door needs to be open quite a bit wider, but it's a start. For a long time we had a key hole and it was locked,” Knockwood said.

“It took years and years to get to this point. It’s going to take a couple years to get past it.”

Becky Julian, another survivor of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, has not watched the apology.

“I've heard so many apologies now there's nothing to their apologies, it's just a bunch of words,” she said.

Julian believes apologies need to come from those directly responsible.

“He (the Pope) didn't do it. The one that's sitting in the back and not saying a damn word is the government,” Julian said.

Jaime Battiste is the parliamentary secretary to the minister of Crown-Indigenous relations and the he first Mi'kmaq to be elected to Parliament. He believes the Pope's penitential pilgrimage has been powerful, but notes this is one step on the healing journey.

“To hear from the Pope the words of great sorrow and the humbly talking about the need for penance – and that's what this journey was about,” Battiste said.

Battiste also pointed out how a papal visit was one of four steps the Truth and Reconciliation Commission asked from the Pope and the Vatican.

“The other part is to make sure there’s education to the clergy, to Catholics across Canada as to why there was a need for an apology,” he said.

Battiste adds it’s also important that funding is found for the revitalization of Indigenous language and culture and said the government is committed to implementing the calls to action and hopes the bishops and cardinals share the same commitment.