Excitement, then ambivalence, for the Pope's visit to Quebec

Thousands of people gathered Wednesday to watch Pope Francis walk past Plains of Abraham Park. But a mass the next day was no big draw.
QUEBEC CITY — The smell of cigarette smoke, fruity vape juice and cream solar might have been a flashback to returning visitors to the sprawling Quebec City park where, two weeks ago, an annual summer music festival drew raucous crowds.
But on Wednesday, the invigorating scent of sage, a sacred ingredient used in Native spiritual ceremonies took place in the Plains of Abraham Park and the atmosphere was more sober as thousands of spectators awaited the arrival of Pope Francis.
Volunteers in blue T-shirts waded through the crowd, handing out bottles of water in the uncomfortably hot sun as visitors craned their necks whenever a vehicle passed, hoping it was the pope. Some people lay on blankets, eat sandwiches and entertain their babies.
The papal visit to Canada this week was a milestone in the history of scandal involving the country's church- running residential schools, where Indigenous children were sexually and physically abused, or died, for more than a century.
The Pontiff , responding to longstanding calls for an apology to Indigenous peoples, came to Canada to ask forgiveness for the "wrong done by so many Christians" in schools.
The wounds inflicted by priests, nuns and other government personnel- The sanctioned system has been called "cultural genocide" by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and its effects linger.
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">"My spirit was broken. I was taken away from my parents,” said Delbert Sampson, a member of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation who spoke to me in the Plains.
When he was 8, he said he was forced to attend the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, the site of a gruesome discovery by his community, who said they found evidence of 215 unmarked graves using ground-penetrating radar.
"I had a lot of trouble there and had a lot of healing to do after that," said said Mr Sampson, who is now over 70. Pope Francis' apology was a start, he said, but "there's a lot more to it."
ImageThe former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia lit up with orange lights, in honor of the children whose remains would be buried on the school grounds.Credit.. .Amber Bracken for The New York Times

Pope Francis arrived in Canada on Sunday to begin a six-day visit, beginning in Alberta. Times Rome bureau chief Jason Horowitz traveled with the pope to Maskwacis, Alta., where the pontiff visited a cemetery and offered his apologies to Indigenous people. Chief Wilton Littlechild of the Ermineskin Cree Nation, who had hosted the pope, then decked him in a head covering.
[Read:

World Jul 30, 2022 0 144 Add to Reading List

Excitement, then ambivalence, for the Pope's visit to Quebec

Thousands of people gathered Wednesday to watch Pope Francis walk past Plains of Abraham Park. But a mass the next day was no big draw.

QUEBEC CITY — The smell of cigarette smoke, fruity vape juice and cream solar might have been a flashback to returning visitors to the sprawling Quebec City park where, two weeks ago, an annual summer music festival drew raucous crowds.

But on Wednesday, the invigorating scent of sage, a sacred ingredient used in Native spiritual ceremonies took place in the Plains of Abraham Park and the atmosphere was more sober as thousands of spectators awaited the arrival of Pope Francis.

Volunteers in blue T-shirts waded through the crowd, handing out bottles of water in the uncomfortably hot sun as visitors craned their necks whenever a vehicle passed, hoping it was the pope. Some people lay on blankets, eat sandwiches and entertain their babies.

The papal visit to Canada this week was a milestone in the history of scandal involving the country's church- running residential schools, where Indigenous children were sexually and physically abused, or died, for more than a century.

The Pontiff , responding to longstanding calls for an apology to Indigenous peoples, came to Canada to ask forgiveness for the "wrong done by so many Christians" in schools.

The wounds inflicted by priests, nuns and other government personnel- The sanctioned system has been called "cultural genocide" by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and its effects linger.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">"My spirit was broken. I was taken away from my parents,” said Delbert Sampson, a member of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation who spoke to me in the Plains.

When he was 8, he said he was forced to attend the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, the site of a gruesome discovery by his community, who said they found evidence of 215 unmarked graves using ground-penetrating radar.

"I had a lot of trouble there and had a lot of healing to do after that," said said Mr Sampson, who is now over 70. Pope Francis' apology was a start, he said, but "there's a lot more to it."

ImageThe former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia lit up with orange lights, in honor of the children whose remains would be buried on the school grounds.Credit.. .Amber Bracken for The New York Times

Pope Francis arrived in Canada on Sunday to begin a six-day visit, beginning in Alberta. Times Rome bureau chief Jason Horowitz traveled with the pope to Maskwacis, Alta., where the pontiff visited a cemetery and offered his apologies to Indigenous people. Chief Wilton Littlechild of the Ermineskin Cree Nation, who had hosted the pope, then decked him in a head covering.

[Read: