'We need to talk about that hurt': Inside a healing tent in Quebec City
With the Pope en route to Quebec City, Indigenous support workers are offering their services to those in need.
Four healing tents are pitched on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec's capital, where Pope Francis is scheduled to visit early Wednesday evening.
70-year-old Delbert Sampson, a counsellor with Corrections Canada, is one of numerous healers stationed there.
Himself a residential school survivor, he uses traditional Indigenous healing practices to help other survivors work through their trauma -- trauma that is all too often shaped by violence, he explained.
"A lot of people are ashamed to talk about it, especially if it's been sexual abuse," he told CTV News. "And it's even [harder] for men to talk about this."
He said the healing practices involve deeply exploring a person's "mental, emotional, physical and spiritual" state.
"We need to talk about that hurt and that pain we have. This is where we're able to help ourselves," he explained.
Sampson attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. for seven years.
He is one of countless survivors the Pope is apologizing to on behalf of the Catholic Church during his visit to Canada.
"I am here because the first step of my penitential pilgrimage among you is that of again asking forgiveness, of telling you once more that I am deeply sorry," the Pope said in his official apology on Monday. "Sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the Indigenous peoples. I am sorry."
But for Sampson, this apology could go further.
He proposed the Pope partake in Indigenous spiritual practices, just as Indigenous children partook in Catholicism, usually not by choice.
"Come sit with me in a sweat lodge and talk to me in a sweat lodge," Sampson said. "Then I would really understand, I would really see that you're making an effort."
"That would be a real apology."
The Pope's Quebec City schedule has been pushed back for a few hours due to flight delays.
He is set to reach the Citadelle de Quebec at 4:40 p.m. and will tour the Plains of Abraham at 6:15 p.m.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
NEW Iconic Canadian song turns 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Prince Harry, Meghan arrive in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games and meet with wounded soldiers
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, arrived in Nigeria on Friday to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans, among them Nigerian soldiers fighting a 14-year war against Islamic extremists.
Countries struggle to draft 'pandemic treaty' to avoid mistakes made during COVID
After the coronavirus pandemic triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. Years later, countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Broadcaster and commentator Rex Murphy dead at 77: National Post
The National Post is reporting that Rex Murphy, the pundit and columnist who hosted a national call-in radio show for decades, has died.