Connie Walker was hanging out in her backyard, having a fire with a few others, when she checked Facebook and saw a lengthy post from her brother. It was May, 2021, shortly after the revelations of unmarked graves found at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School and people were sharing their stories on social media. From her brother’s post, Walker learned her own story.
“My dad was stolen from me. Because his childhood was stolen from him. By residential school. But also by a man in a black robe,” she says in the podcast.was from the Beardy’s and Okemasis First Nation Reserve near Duck Lake. He was six years old when he was sent to St. Michael’s. There he was sexually abused.
The pain of learning these horrible details about her father, coupled with not having known this in his lifetime, sent her searching. “I felt like the only way to get through that was to shine a light on it. Okay, what do I not know?” she says. “I don’t know where he went to residential school. I don’t know how long he went. I don’t know what happened to him. I don’t know who this priest is.”
As the series continues – episodes are released on Tuesdays – the stories come to life, and the trail gets warmer. It’s revealing, riveting. Walker delivers it all with such openness, even as devastating details emerge – like when her aunt tells her about how the starving kids at St. Michael’s were sometimes fed scraps: apple peels and bread crumbs thrown on the floor; the children having to scrounge for them. “No!” Walker reacts in the moment as she hears this.
At the same time, this has allowed her to posthumously repair her relationship with her father, by better understanding him. “To learn about his experience at that residential school has really shifted how I think about our relationship and ... what he must have been going through when I was a kid when he was violent and abusive,” she says. “Those are the things that loomed large in my mind for most of my life.
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Source: GlobalNational - 🏆 81. / 51 Read more »
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Source: CP24 - 🏆 30. / 67 Read more »
Ceremony opens daylong memorial marking graves detection at site of Canada's largest residential schoolA daylong memorial began Monday in Kamloops, B.C., at the site of what was once Canada's largest residential school on the one-year anniversary of the announcement of the detection of unmarked graves. What a great way to take back this long weekend. Offer up a prayer Drain the swamp!
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Governor-General’s eulogy marks end of traditional year of grieving for lost Indigenous childrenMary Simon joins members of Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc Nation for anniversary of unmarked grave revelation at site of Kamloops Indian Residential School
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Honouring Le Estcwicwéy̓: B.C. First Nation marks 1 year since discovery of 215 unmarked graves | Globalnews.caThis time last year, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc confirmed that 215 suspected unmarked graves had been detected in the apple orchard by the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Canadians have nothing to he ashamed of. Including native children in white society was not genocide, it was something that set us apart from the vast majority of other nations that were segregating themselves. Any suggestion that we murdered native children is a slanderous lie. What did these children die from? alright , dig it up ,find bones , confirm
Source: GlobalNational - 🏆 81. / 51 Read more »