FOG BLOG CANADA NEWS LOG: PROTESTS DURING POPE'S MASS IN QUEBEC CITY!

Protesters urge Pope to rescind Doctrine of Discovery during mass near Quebec City 'It's not enough to just apologize,' said Indigenous artist and activist Moments before Pope Francis began leading mass at the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Basilica outside Quebec City Thursday morning, two people made their way to the front of the altar to hold a brief, silent protest urging the pontiff to go further in his efforts for healing and reconciliation with Indigenous people in Canada.

The protesters held up a large banner that read "Rescind the doctrine" with the Pope and other members of the clergy standing steps away.

The banner is a reference to the Doctrine of Discovery, which is inspired by centuries-old papal bulls that justified the colonization, conversion and enslavement of non-Christians and the seizure of their lands — and, scholars say, laid the foundation for Canada's claim to land and the Indian Act.

Many members of Indigenous communities across the country were hoping the Pope would do more to speak out against this doctrine during his weeklong trip to Canada.

Sarain Fox, an artist and activist who took part in the protest, said the message was necessary following the Pope's apologies this week which, according to her, were underwhelming.

"It's important for us to be recognized as human beings so it's not enough just to apologize. You need to talk about the root of everything," said Fox, who is from the Batchewana First Nation near Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and whose aunt is a residential school survivor.

"Indigenous people are looking for action and our elders have very little time left to see that action."

Once the ceremony got underway, the banner was then put on display outside the basilica.

Olivia Munoz, a Kanien'kehá:ka woman whose grandfather attended residential school in Brantford, Ont., came from Los Angeles because she wanted to represent the families of survivors.

"We're like the third generation, and we feel the effects of what has happened to them," she said. "It was a subject that we only heard one time spoken, and that was it. But I feel the pain. I feel their pain."