One day after a vicious summer storm ripped through parts of central Alberta, the weather conditions triggered the cancellation of a large annual Indigenous gathering west of Edmonton.
In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton said the “extreme weather” seen a day earlier and advice from the RCMP prompted organizers to cancel the remainder of the 2023 Lac Ste. Anne Pilgrimage.
“Emergency protocols have been implemented,” the Archdiocese’s news release said. “We are working with the Alexis Nakota Sioux First Nation and Lac Ste. Anne County to ensure everyone has food, warm clothing and safe shelter.
“There were no injuries, and damage is being assessed.”
The Archdiocese said about 10,000 campers were on site at the time that the storm ripped through.
“Many of them left and others stayed in the concession, church hall, and shrine,” the Archdiocese said. “They were provided with coffee and food.
“Please continue to pray for the pilgrims and the continued success of the Lac Ste. Anne Pilgrimage in the future.
“The safety of all pilgrims is paramount.”
Violet Ward told Global News she comes from Edmonton to attend the pilgrimage each year and was sad the remaining days were cancelled but she can see why.
“They have to – there’s so much water all over,” she said. “Last night was the worst I’ve ever seen.
“It was really scary.”
Ward said Monday night saw the stormy weather intensify rapidly with rain, thunder and lightning and noted “the wind was so strong.”
“We had the kitchen here by the trailer and it just blew right into the … the trailer,” she said. “Everybody was just hollering and screaming, ‘Go to the cars!'”
She and her family fled to the nearby community of Alberta Beach where a bar owner offered shelter to them and other pilgrimage attendees.
The event began July 21 and was originally supposed to end on July 27.
For over 100 years, the pilgrimage has seen thousands of people gather on the shore of Lac Ste. Anne each year, which is about a one-hour drive west of Edmonton.
According to the event’s website, the pilgrimage “has become the largest annual Indigenous religious and Catholic gathering in Western Canada.”
“It’s kind of disappointing,” Ward said. “I was looking forward for tomorrow … Sacred Heart Mass.”
Archbishop Richard Smith said he too was very disappointed by the cancellation but noted his disappointment “pales with the Indigenous peoples’.”
“They love this pilgrimage site,” he said, noting there was a particularly significant amount of anticipation that had built up for this year’s pilgrimage.
This week marks one year since Pope Francis came to Canada to say he was sorry for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the county’s residential school system and the cultural destruction and forced assimilation of Indigenous people.
Lac Ste. Anne was among the places Pope Francis visited in Canada in 2022. At that year’s pilgrimage he took part, and wore a red Métis sash around his neck.
Parts of Lac Ste. Anne County were under a tornado watch on Monday. Environment and Climate Change Canada warned about the possibility of “life-threatening” weather conditions developing.
On Tuesday, the weather agency confirmed that a tornado touched down near Wildwood, Alta., about 60 kilometres west of Lac Ste. Anne.
“We had a lot of thunderstorm activity develop west of Drayton Valley,” Justin Shelley, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, told Global News on Tuesday.
“Afterwards, a long line of thunderstorms formed sort of west of Edmonton up north towards Westlock and it looks like it produced a widespread area of what are called straight-line winds, where you get very strong winds associated with an outflow of a thunderstorm.
“It looks like, based on radar, those wind gusts were likely in the 80 to100 kilometre per hour range.”
“They took the decision and I think it’s the right one,” Smith said of the decision to cancel the pilgrimage. “We want to keep people safe.”
–With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press