Meet a Mi’kmaw elder seeking a formal apology from Pope Francis over residential school abuse

Phyllis Googoo was simply 4 years previous when she gripped tightly to her brother’s hand as they had been taken from their household and despatched to Shubenacadie Residential College.

“I might image my mom. She was waving on the shore. ‘That is momentary, she’ll choose us up.’ You realize, I stored hopes in my head,” Googoo stated, now in her late 70s.

The shoreline of We’koqma’q First Nation is roughly 250 kilometres away from Shubenacadie, N.S., which was the positioning of the one residential college within the Maritime provinces.

Through the Nineteen Thirties to late Sixties, Mi’kmaw youngsters from throughout the Maritimes had been compelled to attend the varsity, run by Catholic clergymen and nuns, and supported by the federal authorities.

From the second Googoo arrived, the general goal of the varsity to separate the kids from their Mi’kmaw tradition was made clear to her when she spoke in her language.

“You’re not allowed to talk it otherwise you get hit, you get strapped. We had been at all times lined up like little troopers, getting in and going out, and in the course of the course of, you might hear youngsters crying and screaming as a result of the nun could be beating someone within the line. So, it was actually terrifying, you understand,” she stated.

Googoo stated she stored her spirit alive by secretly talking Mi’kmaw along with her classmates every time they had been alone.

“I used to be scared to be caught but it surely gave you consolation — the language offers you consolation such as you’re house. In any other case, I don’t know what would occur if I didn’t hear the language.”

The opposite factor Googoo latched onto for consolation was discovering ladybugs within the discipline. They reminded her of her grandfather’s yard again house.

“I treasured them [lady bugs] as a result of whenever you’re a child, that younger, you want nurturing, you want safety, love. I didn’t assume that method until in a while, and I needed to shield them, love them, they’re my youngsters,” she stated.

Googoo is one in every of a number of residential college survivors and Indigenous leaders from throughout Canada, assembly with Pope Francis this week in Vatican Metropolis.

The delegation is predicted to ask the top of the Catholic Church for an official apology for the trauma brought on by its operation of the residential college system.

“We’ve got reiterated to the church that they should be accountable, and acknowledge their duty for the good hurt brought on by their direct position within the establishment of assimilation and genocide that they ran,” stated Gerald Antoine, a regional chief with the Meeting of First Nations.

Googoo might be joined by different Mi’kmaw delegates and stated she is hopeful Pope Francis will respect their requests.

“I’m doing [presenting] the impacts of the residential college, the sexual abuse, being overwhelmed, and terrorized. We went by rather a lot,” she stated.