B次元官网网址淗elp me, Help me. TheyB次元官网网址檝e taken my children away. Oh, my poor heart. My poor broken heart, theyB次元官网网址檝e taken my children away.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淎 MotherB次元官网网址檚 CryB次元官网网址�, the revered song of northwestern B.C.B次元官网网址檚 NisgaB次元官网网址檃 people so effectively orates the anguish of empty-armed mothers as their children were stolen that counsellors and community supports are made available after each performance.

The song was written more than 30 years ago by Camilla Haines, a residential school survivor born into the Gitxsan nation and married into the NisgaB次元官网网址檃 Nation.

She wrote it to chronicle the heartache felt across First Nations communities as their children were taken and placed into the residential school system, where many eventually lost their way to the demons of substance abuse, alcoholism, self-harm, stolen culture and identity loss.

B次元官网网址淭he parents couldnB次元官网网址檛 do anything. So I based the song on the fact of the poor motherB次元官网网址檚 cries,B次元官网网址� Haines said.

The solemn song starts with a heart-wrenching motherB次元官网网址檚 plea. The accompanying dance personifies priests in long black robes wrenching children from their motherB次元官网网址檚 and taking them away.

Haines said that when she wrote the song, her motherB次元官网网址檚 face was prominent in her vision.

An image cemented in her memory and clutched in the sanctum of her being is that of her mother standing on the pier, alone in silent sorrow watching a steamship carry three of her children across the water. The other parents, grieving in their own ways had left the dock, but Haines said she and her brothers stood at the shipB次元官网网址檚 railing, watching their mother watching them until they could see each other no more.

Haines was on the younger end of 12 siblings. Her older siblings had been taken to a residential school in Edmonton. She was 10 when she was taken with her brothers, 12 and 14, to a residential school in Port Alberni.

B次元官网网址淵ou know, it would have been really hard on my mother because it was three of us at the same time, and then just my younger sister would have been at home with her.B次元官网网址�

She canB次元官网网址檛 remember what she was told about going away, but she does remember the unconquerable sea-sickness that laid her flat during the entire voyage and the kindly shipB次元官网网址檚 purser who tried to help her because the person who was supposed to be B次元官网网址渟upervisingB次元官网网址� her made no effort to check-in.

She said there were many children on the steamer coming from Hazelton, the Nass Valley, Haida Gwaii, and Lax KwB次元官网网址檃laams.

B次元官网网址淲hat they did back in those days, the government threatened B次元官网网址� they threatened [parents] that if they ever needed help they wouldnB次元官网网址檛 help them at all B次元官网网址� Some of them, they even threatened they would throw them in jail if they didnB次元官网网址檛 let their kids go,B次元官网网址� she said.

B次元官网网址淧arents just accepted the way things were.B次元官网网址�

Not everyone was treated or abused equally at the Port Alberni school. She doesnB次元官网网址檛 know why. Maybe it was because she had already been in Indian Day school for four years and knew English.

B次元官网网址淚 myself didnB次元官网网址檛 suffer the abuses that some did. But I knew of a girl getting abused. There wasnB次元官网网址檛 anything we could do about it.B次元官网网址�

She was allowed home for the summers where she looked after younger children while their parents worked.

When she was 17 and realized she was not going to graduate, she approached the principal with the idea of attending secretarial school. He assisted, and she moved to a girlsB次元官网网址� group home in Vancouver. Soon after, she married a NisgaB次元官网网址檃 man and they eventually returned to the north.

Moving to the city is what many residential school survivors did, she said because they had lost any connection with their culture. This exodus is described in B次元官网网址淎 MotherB次元官网网址檚 Cry.B次元官网网址�

While a literal translation of the song written in NisgaB次元官网网址檃 is difficult, Cam explained some of the lyrics.

B次元官网网址淐ome with me, Come with me to see my grandfather. Come with me. Come with me to see my grandmother,B次元官网网址� relates to the children relearning the traditions and taking the stolen culture back.

B次元官网网址淲e will be OK. We will find them. We will bring them home,B次元官网网址� speaks to parents and elders journeying to the cities to find the lost.

The final crescendo of the song celebrates how the lost have been found, returned to their families and are entwining themselves in their lineage and heritage.

Cam wrote the song while she held a position on the Anglican Council for Indigenous People (AICP) in the late B次元官网网址�80s.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檇 hear all the horror stories from people all around Canada and what they went through. It would just affect me hearing all this. So finally, one year I said I have to write a song about this.B次元官网网址�

She took the song to her husbandB次元官网网址檚 aunt and uncle who were fluent in NisgaB次元官网网址檃 and assisted with translation. The song has been held in such solemn esteem it was deemed B次元官网网址渟acredB次元官网网址� and only GitmaxmakB次元官网网址檃y NisgaB次元官网网址檃 Society dancers were granted permission to perform it.

Photographing or videoing any performance was strictly prohibited until recently. Cam said she made the change to assist with the truth and bring reconciliation.

B次元官网网址淎t first the people in the Nass hated it because it brought so much B次元官网网址� emotion back to them. But then they accepted it. Now there are villages that have dance groups, and theyB次元官网网址檝e done similar things because itB次元官网网址檚 all a part of our history.B次元官网网址�

She said all songs fade away eventually, and itB次元官网网址檚 now up to the second and third generations to keep it alive.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e always told them that this is part of our history. You know, itB次元官网网址檚 emotional, but it happened. So, the story still needs to be told.B次元官网网址�