Warning: The story below contains details about abuse in residential schools that may be upsetting. Canada’s National Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day on 1-866-925-4419.
Alberta, Canada – There is an expansive lake 75km (46 miles) west of Edmonton, Alberta that attracts thousands of Catholic believers every July to cleanse in its muddy shorelines. The believers consider the lake to harbour healing powers. It was named Lac Ste Anne by 19th-century Catholic missionaries, however to the local Metis (mixed Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples) and First Nations, the eutrophic lake has been a sacred area long before the settlers came.
