Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press

Residential school survivor Rod Alexis remembers his late father telling him: "Son, I don't know how to be a parent."

"I lost the gift that was given to us by the Creator because I was all alone in the residential school," the member of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation recalls his father, also a residential school survivor, saying. "Many times I wanted to say 'I love you,' wanted to give you a hug, but I didn't know how."

When a daring construction crew entered a century-old hut in the Rockies on the first day of its takedown, they lit the fireplace one last time and discussed for an hour the gravity of what they were about to do.

"The whole crew knew the grandness and the sadness of what we were doing," said Sean Alexander, the manager of the construction crew that last month took apart the Abbot Pass Refuge Cabin. It straddled the Continental Divide and the Alberta-British Columbia boundary about three kilometres above sea level and was the second-highest structure in Canada.

Cultures collide each Sunday morning at Edmonton's Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples, with sage burning alongside candles and both hymns and Indigenous drumming resounding through congregations.

The century-old religious institution, located in the vibrant and diverse McCauley inner-city neighbourhood, routinely blends Catholic and Indigenous rituals in its services, making it an obvious backdrop for the pending visit from Pope Francis later this month.

A mail carrier says her out-of-pocket costs for delivering packages along her rural route have doubled because of the steep hike in gas prices and cost of living being experienced by many Canadians.

"The stress is exhausting," said Jennifer Henson, a Calgary mother of two boys and one of 11,000 rural and suburban mail carriers delivering letters for Canada Post across the country.