My niece Z, her mom Ashley and I watched from our Walmart camping chairs as the tiny tots, dressed in their tiny regalia, toddled around the dance circle chaperoned by moms, dads, aunties and uncles. It was Pride Month in Toronto, and for the day, the Two-Spirited People of the First Nations Powwow had reclaimed a patch of grass from the former Canadian Forces Base in Downsview Park.

I watched the livestream of the Pope's apology with a piece of broken brick by my side.

The red clay brick is from my former residential school. I am sure people will wonder why I have it. The reason is simple: it is a reminder of Canada's assimilation policy and how residential schools impacted generations of Indigenous people, including my family.

As I walk off the dock on Mniku, also called Chapel Island, a group of Mi’kmaw kids run by, laughing. The afternoon sun beats down and the breeze off the Bras d’Or Lake is welcome.

The Saint Anne’s pilgrimage to this small island in the Potlotek First Nation in Unama’ki (Cape Breton) is the longest-running continuous mission in Canada.

In 2004, an assessment found about half of the First Nation’s 100 homes were dilapidated and unlivable, mostly due to mold. Today, dozens of homes have been replaced and more construction is planned. The community’s boil-water advisory will soon be officially lifted, ending a 13-year interruption to its water supply.

Pope Francis is in Canada this week to meet with Indigenous Peoples. That’s the big news dominating Canadian and international headlines.

There are slim hopes that the Pope might renounce a couple of centuries-old papal bulls, the foundation for colonization and slavery. But don’t hold your breath.

Warning: This story contains details that may provoke distress or trauma in some readers.

Shelley Clark’s mother is a survivor so emotionally scarred, she still cannot speak about what happened to her at the Mohawk Institute Residential School. So Shelley, who is Cayuga from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, knows little of her mother’s history except that she attended the school in the 1940s or early 1950s.