WARNING: This story contains disturbing details
Mental health providers across the country have been much busier helping traumatized people after Pope Francis arrived in Canada and apologized for the forced assimilation of Indigenous people in residential schools.
“As soon as we got settled, before the Pope gave his first speech on Monday, we had about 125 people come to us in Maskwacis,” said Nola Jeffrey, executive director of the Tsow-Tun Le Lum Society, an abuse of substances and trauma. help center offering traditional and cultural healing in Lantzville, BC
Jeffrey and his team of elders, survivors and people living with intergenerational trauma were invited by the BC First Nations Health Authority and the organizers of the papal visit to come to Alberta to support while the Pope apologized, for the first time in Canada, to residential school survivors and their families in Maskwacis, Alta., south of Edmonton.
“After [the apology]people just flocked to us,” Jeffrey said. “We didn’t leave until the last person who wanted help was done.”
Indigenous Services Canada said the federal government’s 24-hour crisis support line has received twice as many calls as it usually does since the Pope arrived on his penitential visit this week.
“Crisis lines are getting calls from across the country,” Kyle Fournier, spokesperson for Indigenous Services Canada, said in an email Thursday.
“People who call the crisis lines express a range of different emotions. For some, the Pope’s visit and apology can be healing, and for others it can be triggering. Discussions about the harmful legacy of the residential schools are important and can also be difficult for many.”
On average, Fournier said the National Indian Residential School Crisis Line received 121 calls a day since January 2022.
But on the day the Pope apologized for the cultural destruction and forced assimilation of indigenous people, the number of calls rose to 277. The next day, the crisis line received 244 calls.
Fournier said 300 additional mental welfare and cultural support workers in Alberta were asked to attend papal events. Sixty workers are to be in Quebec and 40 mental health workers are to be on site in Iqaluit for the papal visit, eight of whom are clinical counselors.
An indigenous man wipes away tears after Pope Francis apologized to indigenous people for the church’s role in residential schools on Monday. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
For the Pope’s visit to Alberta, Jeffrey said he drove from BC with traditional medicines, including cedar and spruce branches, which people rub themselves with to release negative energy.
Many people also approached Jeffrey to use cold water to wash the tears from his face, which is traditionally done four times. Water helps to balance emotions and ground people.
“The first wash is to honor the Creator, the second wash is to honor your ancestors, the third wash is to honor your territory and the final wash is when I always say, “This is the most important wash to honor a beautiful and beautiful precious you.'”
Jeffery said his team didn’t turn anyone away.
“We even had a clergyman come to us and the man who was in charge of security had become depressed and came for help,” he said.
The next day, he said, he stayed past midnight with his team at Lac Ste. Anne, northwest of Edmonton, after the Pope took part in a holy pilgrimage. Jeffrey said many people there also needed help.
He said Canadians need to think about how those who cannot let go of their pain can get support for the days, weeks and years to come.
“There’s a teaching that it takes seven generations to let go of trauma, and so we’re on the cusp of that,” he said. “My hope is that we can help our people,” she added through tears.
“The Pope did not talk about how children were raped, beaten, shamed, starved and how they experienced them. We need to make our people feel good about themselves. Many of our own are dying.”
During his speech in Maskwacis on Monday, the pontiff apologized for the harmful actions of many church members towards First Nations, Métis and Inuit people and the role they played in Canada’s “devastating” politics of indigenous residential schools.
He said the forced assimilation of indigenous peoples into Christian society destroyed their cultures, separated their families and marginalized generations in a way that is still felt today.
She said the memories of the children who never returned from the residential centers have left her with a sense of “pain, outrage and shame”.
“In the face of this deplorable evil, the church kneels before God and implores his forgiveness for the sins of her children,” the Pope said during his speech on Monday. “I want to restate it myself, shamefully and unequivocally.”
Francis prays at a grave at the Ermineskin Cree Nation Cemetery in Maskwacis, Monday. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
Access to trauma-informed cultural and emotional support services, as well as professional mental health counseling, will continue to be available through the federal government’s Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program, Fournier said.
“Community supports vary from community to community and may include elder services, traditional healers, Indigenous health support providers and peer counselors. Professional mental health counseling is also available through this program” .
Jeffrey said indigenous people thrived for thousands of years before colonization.
“Colonization is just one point in our history,” he said. “It’s a painful blow, but I know we can come out of this and be strong and thrive again.”
This story was produced with financial assistance from the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship, which is not involved in the editorial process.
Support is available for anyone affected by their experience in residential care or recent reports.
A National Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line has been set up to support alumni and those affected. Individuals can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419. Mental health counseling 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.