One of the first to take the microphone, Mary Vickars faced a crowd of several hundred as she spoke about the stick her mother often had waiting for her after school.
The B次元官网网址渟warms of hitsB次元官网网址� were frequent, but one day it got worse.
With a determined but quivering voice, Vickars told of the morning her mother lunged at her, out of the blue, with a machete.
B次元官网网址淚 saw myself with my six brothers running down the street to save my life,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚 couldnB次元官网网址檛 comprehend how a mother could do that to her only daughter.B次元官网网址�
Vickars is an intergenerational survivor of residential schools, the daughter of a woman who attended St. MichaelB次元官网网址檚 school in Alert Bay near the northern tip of Vancouver Island, between the ages of three and 16.
On Friday at the Victoria Conference Centre, she joined dozens of others from across Vancouver Island who volunteered to speak about their experiences of residential school at the national Truth and Reconciliation CommissionB次元官网网址檚 event in Victoria, April 13 and 14. They spoke for the record, for personal healing and for cross-cultural understanding.
B次元官网网址淪eeing all the drinking and the infidelity of our people was outrageous,B次元官网网址� Vickars said, her face projected onto a large screen for all to see clearly in the darkened conference room. B次元官网网址淚t was dysfunctional, but to us it felt so normal, because the whole community was doing it.B次元官网网址�
The goal of the commission is to create a national memory around residential schools for future generations, chair Murray Sinclair told more than 1,000 people gathered at the opening ceremonies Friday at Crystal Garden.
B次元官网网址淲e never want it to be said in this country at any time in the future that this never happened.B次元官网网址�
The event also aimed to set the groundwork for reconciliation, he added.
The relationship between Aboriginal Peoples and non-aboriginals has been damaged, he said. B次元官网网址淭he tension that goes on in this society is significant B次元官网网址� and the relationship will have to be addressed for future generations, so that future Canadians will be able to mutually exist without that tension.B次元官网网址�
Over two days, the commission gathered statements from survivors and their families. From these, common themes emerged of harsh punishments at school, languages lost, broken families and intergenerational neglect and abuse. Memories of specific incidents, however, brought home these large-scale traumas.
One woman told of hearing the screams of children on the day a dentist came to her school and pulled out teeth without freezing.
One man told of secretly caring for a puppy, feeding him bread stolen from the kitchen. When he was caught, a priest instructed him to drown the dog in a gunny sack. B次元官网网址淗e said donB次元官网网址檛 take your eyes off it until the bubbles stop.B次元官网网址�
William Jones chose to speak in the more intimate setting of a sharing circle.
Holding the eagle feather, he sat with other survivors while witnesses listened from outside the circle and mental health supporters, dressed in white, stood by with tissues.
B次元官网网址淚 beat my wife like any other drunken Indian,B次元官网网址� said Jones (left).
ItB次元官网网址檚 taken all these years to understand the source of his problems.
B次元官网网址淚 likely would have succeeded had I not been destructuralized.B次元官网网址�
When the man who molested him and other boys at Alberni residential school was tried in court, Jones didnB次元官网网址檛 have the courage to participate.
B次元官网网址淚 could never admit to myself what that man had done to me,B次元官网网址� he said.
After 30 years of sobriety and 20 years of work with psychiatrists and psychologists, that changed. B次元官网网址淚t was time for me to say something and maybe put it in someone elseB次元官网网址檚 lap,B次元官网网址� he said.
Many other people shared stories of healing and success, despite a childhood of abuse.
A Pacheedaht man spoke proudly of being the owner of a restaurant.
Perry Omeasoo spoke of rising to the position of president of the Vancouver Native Health Society. B次元官网网址淚 like the person IB次元官网网址檝e become,B次元官网网址� he said.
Vickars found a way to forgive her stick-wielding mother.
B次元官网网址淚 couldnB次元官网网址檛 comprehend being three years old, with your siblings, and being taken away,B次元官网网址� Vickars said, sobbing. B次元官网网址淲hat I went through was (nothing in comparison).B次元官网网址�
Her experience influenced how she parented her own kids.
B次元官网网址淭here are numerous of us, in my generation, that never got a childhood and when my children came I made sure that they had everything.B次元官网网址�
More than truth telling, the Truth and Reconciliation event served as a call to action.
B次元官网网址淲e need to figure out how we move forward,B次元官网网址� said commissioner Marie Wilson, addressing both the survivors and all the people of Canada. B次元官网网址淲e are all part of that obligation.B次元官网网址�
She called on everyone in the audience to be witnesses at the event and to continue the conversation into the future.
B次元官网网址淲e need helpersB次元官网网址� who will help us turn the word B次元官网网址榳itnessB次元官网网址� into an active verb,B次元官网网址� said Wilson. B次元官网网址淲e are actually asking you to join a movement.B次元官网网址�
rholmen@vicnews.com
Links to previous stories in series:
B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址�
