Angel Sampson recalls being called B次元官网网址渉eathen,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址渟avage,B次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址渆vil.B次元官网网址�

She also remembers the fear of attending school, where she experienced not only emotional abuse, but physical harm at the hands of the people entrusted with her education and care.

From 1964 to B次元官网网址�67, and starting when she was six years old, Sampson attended the Tsartlip Indian Day School in Brentwood Bay. It wasnB次元官网网址檛 what people might recognize as a residential school B次元官网网址� the site of pain and suffering by many of CanadaB次元官网网址檚 Indigenous people B次元官网网址� but the conditions Sampson says she faced were not any different.

In fact, the only difference, she said, was that the children got to go home at night.

That still didnB次元官网网址檛 prevent the abuse from happening, she said. Sampson remembers having her hair pulled, being choked and battered unconscious to the point where other students thought sheB次元官网网址檇 died. As a young child, she said you were afraid to talk about it, and the nuns of the Catholic Church who ran the Day School created an environment where the children were fearful of speaking up.

The school, she said, is still standing. ItB次元官网网址檚 now used as a classroom at the LeuB次元官网网址檞elB次元官网网址檔ew Tribal School.

Former students of the Tsartlip Indian Day School talk about their experiences from time to time and Sampson said she still has to convince some people that the abuse happened.

B次元官网网址淪ome people still donB次元官网网址檛 believe these things happened to us,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淭hey did happen.B次元官网网址�

She recalls a conversation with another former student who told her they never experienced abuse. Sampson said by being forced to watch others being abused, even those who were never physically harmed were exposed to trauma.

The silence around these schools began to lift as Canada moved into an era of reconciliation with its Indigenous people, where the abuses suffered at residential schools across the country were exposed and governments and institutions held accountable. In 2005, the federal government reached a settlement with residential school survivors and even made an apology.

For Sampson and others like her, however, their experiences were not included in that apology, nor in the legal settlement.

Simply because they were able to go home at night.

Sampson is part of a class action lawsuit, started in 2009 by Garry McLean who attended the Dog Creek Day School at the Lake Manitoba First Nation from 1957 to 1965. The action is seeking compensation for the damages and abuses suffered by all Indian Day School students B次元官网网址� forced to attend the schools, but excluded from the residential schools settlement agreement.

At the time, media reported the class action was seeking $15 billion in compenstion. Since then, legal representation has changed, Sampson said.

B次元官网网址淧art of why weB次元官网网址檙e working on this class action for a long time, is to just get people to take what happened seriously. We want to be heard.B次元官网网址�

Sampson said many of the people who ran the schools have long since died and none have been to jail for what happened to her.

B次元官网网址淭he more we share, the more that comes out. It still doesnB次元官网网址檛 take away the pain.B次元官网网址�

Their experience, Sampson continued, is often felt by the next generation as well. Her own son, Brian Sampson who performs with the rap group Paint the Town Red as YellowWolf, wrote a song called Re-Educate about the Tsartlip Indian Day School.

Day School survivors have recently been meeting with the law firm now representing them in the class action B次元官网网址� Gowling WLG (Canada ) LLP. Sampson said their representatives were at Tsartlip earlier this year and plant to be back in August to discuss progress on the case with many people from across the Island. To do that, Sampson said she and others have to raise enough money to get them to Vancouver Island.

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e not a rich people. Many of our residents do not have enough money to throw at lawyers.B次元官网网址�

So, theyB次元官网网址檒l do what they can. And theyB次元官网网址檙e hoping others in the community will support them.

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