The Pope's visit to Canada; Indigenous responses vary

 I wanted to comment on the Pope's visit to Canada. As a White Settler, I believe in Truth and Reconciliation. I also believe in Reparation. I do not think the Pope did that. Many Catholic Indigenous people have been happy with his visit, others not so much. There is so much more to be done. 

I think this Cree woman spoke for many, with tears and emotions clearly reflected on her face (CTV): Her name is Si Pih Ko and she is a true Ogichidaa Kwe (Facebook).

It was a powerful moment during the Pope’s visit to Treaty 6 on Monday, as a woman stood in her regalia and sang an emotional rendition of O Canada in Cree directly to the leader of the Catholic Church following his apology to residential school survivors. pic.twitter.com/LO3eIiT8ac

— APTN News (@APTNNews) July 26, 2022

In fact, she didn't sing O Canada. She sang a powerful song to those who enacted the 'Doctrine of Discovery', giving them permission to steal Indigenous lands.

Simon Bird interpretation:
our father

keep our land that is pure and clean

our land that is pure/clean, it is true/it is the truth
I am grateful standing here 

you should know better than to be granting/sharing something
we are the royalty

we were sovereign/we made our own laws
there cannot be another law brought here

that is not the great/true law
great leaders were selected
so we can make our own laws/to be sovereign
That’s it/thank you

Her words: “‘You are hereby served the spoken law, we the daughters of the great spirit and our tribal sovereign members can not be forced into law or treaty that is now the great law. We have appointed chiefs on our territories, govern yourselves accordingly,’ and then I turned my back on him and said ‘hiy hiy’ and I shook it off.”

Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Thursday and came face-to-face with a long-standing demand: to formally rescind the papal decrees underpinning the so-called “Doctrine of Discovery” that seemingly legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Native lands. https://t.co/0pVgjizlrs

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 28, 2022

There was an interesting CBC show: CBC Radio's The House: TRC calls to action — what's next?, hosted by CBC journalist Niigaan Sinclair (Anishinaabe, and assistant prof at uManitoba). He interviewed his father, Murray Sinclair, who was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) chair. 

All I can do is bear witness to the pain and the wrongs. I hope we can do the things that need to be done. And what needs to be done? Cindy Blackstock has long advocated for the people, First Nations, Innuit, Metis. She states what must be done in reparations. I leave you with this: