Truro Daily News
October 13, 2011
http://www.trurodaily.com/News/Local/2011-10-12/article-2775235/Residential-school-survivors-share-horrific-experiences/1
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| Indian Brook's Frank Thomas, 66, talks about his experiences at the Shubenacadie Residential School where he first arrived at the age of five. For 12 years, Thomas was abused at the hands of the school staff, much like the other Mi'kmaq boys and girls... |
Frank Thomas remembers the day he was taken to the Shubenacadie Residential School.
The year was 1950 and Thomas was five-years-old. He would spend the next 12 years at the school.
Now 66, he doesn't want the government to forget what happened to him and thousands of other Mi'kmaq children who had similar experiences.
"When I was taken, I didn't know where I was going and when I got to the residential school, I didn't know what I was there for," said the Indian Brook man during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's hearing here yesterday.
"As time went on, I was abused in the school. I lost my language and they took away my culture.
"But they didn't take away my pride or dignity."
Thomas wanted to share his story at the hearing to get the truth out there.
"The truth has to be told," he said. "There can't be no more sitting back saying the government can get away with this and the government can get away with that."
In 1920, it became mandatory that all native children between the ages of seven and 15 attend residential schools.
The Shubenacadie school, which was one of 130 in Canada, opened in the early 1920s and was operational for four-and-a-half decades. Thomas was one of more than 1,000 students to attend the school.
After telling his story, Thomas said his day-to-day life inside the school was "hell."
"They brainwashed you with their religion. I was slapped behind the head. We were called dirty savages, stupid and no good. It really affects a young child growing up."
Like Thomas, Doreen Bernard was a victim of the residential school for six years.
When she was four-and-a-half years old, Bernard's siblings were home for a holiday.
"I remember after Christmas vacation, taking them back down to the residential school from here and being left behind to stay with them," said the woman who lives in Indian Brook.
"I remember that day. We went down there to take my sister and brother back. My father and mother went in to talk to the priest, but they were making plans to leave me behind."
Going onto the girls side with her sister, Bernard was told her parents had already left.
Although she doesn't remember being beaten at home, Bernard was introduced to the strap at the residential school, getting beatings for a lot of things, including going to lay down with her older sister.
"Just being a kid, doing what kids do."
Thomas and Bernard were only two of a number of people that shared their experiences publicly. Some chose to write their experiences for the commission.
Justice Murray Sinclair, chairman of the commission, said the hearing in Indian Brook was one of many that are happening throughout Canada leading up to national events.
The smaller hearings give survivors who may not be able to attend a national event a chance to still share their story.
The hearings will give the commission a chance to write a report with the history of residential schools in Canada, the legacy of the survivors and what should be done next.
"Each story has its own truth to it. They are always unique experiences because the schools were all run by different people," said Sinclair.
"In some cases, the students were so close to their families but they weren't able to see them."
Listening intently to the stories, Betty Murphy had hoped more people would be there to hear the experiences.
"When I listen to them, I hear the child in them speaking. It's the fear they must have experienced, the abandonment and the lack of nourishment," said the New Glasgow woman.
Murphy has read a number of stories on the residential schools, such as those in Isabelle Knockwood's book, ‘Out of the Depths.'
"They're not talking about a lot of the details," said Murphy. "Which makes me feel the details may still be too painful."
Contact: rtetanish@trurodaily.com
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