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WE WERE CHILDREN | Full Documentary | National Film Board of Canada — Transcript

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0:01[Applause]
0:04[Music]
0:11[Applause]
0:20[Music]
0:30[Music]
0:46spee
0:48spee spee speech
0:52[Music]
0:53[Applause]
1:13[Music]
1:15Lina
1:21Mama P
1:44ask guy work
1:58working h m
2:11[Music]
2:30m
2:35[Music]
2:46[Music]
3:28Miss St that
3:41onee May squ with
3:45[Music]
4:05[Music]
4:23all she said to me was to be
4:26good and to listen
4:30and she never said
4:34anymore they had no
4:38expectations I don't think think they
4:40could even
4:42fathom what would happen
4:45[Music]
4:54[Music]
5:16what
5:38[Music]
5:53[Music]
6:03[Music]
6:09I remember coming into a a huge
6:14building and I remember these things in
6:17black I didn't know what they
6:20were um black and white and they were
6:24all waiting
6:27[Music]
6:37I feel so small and I was very
6:40[Music]
6:47[Music]
6:50scared I remember being taken
6:54upstairs into this dormatory where there
6:57was about four rows of beds on the one
7:01side and four rows of beds on the other
7:03side they were white beds like hospital
7:08beds this will be your
7:12bed your
7:18bed bed
7:23sleep bring her to the shower
7:31The Savage doesn't believe that
7:32cleanliness is Next to
7:36Godliness when they get a cut or scrape
7:39or even an insect bite their mothers
7:42leave the wound to
7:48Fester are you listening to me Sister
7:51Mary yes
7:55sister Lena is it Lena l
8:02Sister
8:03Mary whichever way it is pronounced it
8:06no longer
8:10pertains we'll have this disposed of
8:13now let's give this one a good
8:17scrubbing I remember being taken into a
8:21large shower room where I was stripped
8:25down and I was
8:27showered I never
8:30had anybody but my mother touch me so
8:33that was scary in itself having someone
8:36I didn't know bathe me they dried my
8:40hair and they looked through my hair and
8:42then they applied
8:45DDT I didn't know at the time it was DDT
8:47was powder and it really smelled
8:51terrible leave this cchf on for 24 hours
8:55to kill the bugs does she understand us
8:58she will
8:59leave this
9:05on
9:08on you see Sister Mary they learn fast
9:11when they want
9:14[Music]
9:18to I remember the first night very well
9:22we went upstairs and I was taken to my
9:25bed on your knees girls we had to kneel
9:27down again on your knees girls quickly
9:30Now
9:32quickly heads down eyes
9:37closed down eyes
9:42closed our
9:45father Father Who Art in Heaven who in
9:48heaven Hallowed be thy name be thy name
9:52thy kingdom come thy will be
9:55done I didn't understand the language
9:58and I just did what everybody else did I
10:01would love to
10:02see what the rest of the girls were
10:04doing and that follow them forever and
10:07ever forever andever amen
10:17amen no
10:20talking no getting out of
10:24bed remember Sister Mary can see you
10:28through the
10:31window there was a a sister that was
10:34assigned to take care of us and she
10:36stayed in a room close to the door and
10:39there was um a window she would be able
10:42to see us through this window so I
10:44feared that
10:48window I cried myself to sleep that
10:51night
10:53[Music]
11:03good morning girls good morning time to
11:06get up right away please get up good
11:09morning get up when I woke up get up my
11:13eyes were swollen and I could hardly
11:15open
11:16them they had these two wooden they
11:19called them clackers and they come on
11:21come along clacked them together up out
11:24of bed come on please out of bed 24
11:28hours after they had put the powder on
11:31my hair the yellow powder I had to go
11:33back in the
11:34shower and wash it
11:40up they dried my hair again and I had to
11:43go sit on this
11:46chair I remember feeling the cold
11:48scissors on my hair and sometimes kind
11:51of hitting me on the head or nicking me
11:53in the
11:54ear head down it hurt it was
11:57painful I felt that
12:00they were taking something away from
12:03me they were stripping away my
12:07humanness my sense of who I
12:18[Music]
12:25was there we
12:27are a brand new
12:30[Music]
12:34start soon you'll be playing with the
12:36other children
12:39[Music]
12:52[Music]
13:12we had to go down a long hallway into
13:14the dining room and I remember seeing
13:17tables and tables with chairs around
13:19them
13:38you see
13:4099 that's
13:42you 99 this is your
13:47chair this is your bowl
13:50spoon
13:5499 I learned that
13:59the name Lina ceased to
14:03[Music]
14:15exist we were all given numbers started
14:18with the bigger boys head were number
14:20one all the way to I think there was
14:22about 120 of us but always remember when
14:26I first went there I was
14:3118
14:34yeah you used to get lonely cuz you you
14:38come to realize that it wasn't place you
14:41thought it was and uh away from
14:52home our people thought that the
14:54government would build a school on
14:56reserve but they went a different route
14:59they built these schools away from the
15:01reserve and run by the
15:03churches and it was kind of a catch 22
15:07situation uh if you didn't send your
15:10kids to school they threaten you with
15:22jail what is your name what is your name
15:31my name is my name
15:46is we were punished in school spoke our
15:49own language when I first went to school
15:52I had to learn English and French
16:02us to wonder how come they spoke French
16:04and English we didn't understand them
16:06and how come they they could speak
16:08French unless we couldn't speak our
16:12language and just to be hateful I'd
16:14speak an Indian back to
16:24her and then she'd be getting mad start
16:27talking in French and I talk back in
16:30engine and oh it really drove them
16:36crazy but the you know we paid the price
17:07you will learn to speak God's
17:10language all of
17:15you and you will obey
17:29we still
17:30tried eventually you get beaten enough
17:33you
17:35[Music]
17:42quit I think we'd wake up at 6:00 in the
17:45morning and then uh we get dressed I
17:49remember you know going to the sink and
17:52getting ready washing her face her
17:55hands I remember the girl beside me
17:57always washing her face so many times
18:00and her
18:02hands and wondering why she was doing
18:06that so I whispered to her I
18:13said sneaky
18:17aiss see you're dirty and so she did a
18:21comparison with my hand and her hand and
18:23she was fairer than I was and I was dark
18:26and she said that means you're dirty and
18:29I looked at my hands and I thought well
18:31I guess I better wash them and speak
18:34English
18:45English for thine is the kingdom for
18:48thine is the kingdom the power and the
18:51glory the power and Glory forever and
18:54ever forever and
18:57ever amen
19:01for those of you who are new to the
19:02school
19:04welcome
19:08qua your journey has been long you're
19:12missing your
19:13parents rest assured they want you to be
19:16here they want you to learn to become
19:19useful productive members of the larger
19:22world around you you will not only learn
19:24how to cook and sew and Farm
19:29but you will learn how to
19:30pray and to whom to
19:38pray the Savage and carefree ways you
19:42are accustomed to are
19:45over your old world is dying but we in
19:48the Civilized World want to save you
19:51from certain death we welcome you here
19:54with open arms Open Hearts and open
19:58minds
20:02this is the last time you will hear your
20:03own
20:04language to be understood in this
20:06country to survive in its Industries you
20:09will learn to speak English you will
20:11learn to think in English and you will
20:14be the better for it big
20:18worker you may thank
20:20me thank
20:23you very
20:26good that is the end of our service you
20:29may go follow the sister in an orderly
20:32way first row please quickly and
20:37quietly very
20:40good second row quickly please
20:46quickly come on
20:49now now
20:56please quickly children find your seats
21:00please nice and
21:11quiet the very first thing that I recall
21:14is that we were given 10
21:17tokens these tokens are for
21:21you they are for you to
21:25keep you keep them by speaking English
21:30every time you speak your own
21:33language you lose a
21:36token if we kept the 10
21:38tokens that meant that you know we knew
21:42English and that we could communicate in
21:45English English
21:51only I
21:53remember I guess being in a State of
21:56Shock would you like
22:04wondering you know what I was doing
22:08there and
22:11why no one was allowed to touch each
22:14other or to talk to each
22:16[Music]
22:25other who made the world
22:29God made the
22:32world who is
22:35God God is the creator of Heaven and
22:40Earth and of all
22:43things what is
22:47man man is a creature made of Body and
22:52Soul Sister Mary what is the point of
22:55teaching the catechism if your students
22:57refuse to speak
22:59English they are trying sister they are
23:01doing nothing of the
23:04kind
23:08child 99 stand
23:12up stand
23:18up who made the
23:23world who made the world
23:30there you
23:34see this child has very few of her
23:37tokens left I am trying to reach them
23:40reach them Sister Mary it is not we who
23:43must reach them but the other way around
23:46if you coddle these children you do no
23:47one any
23:49good on the floor all of you on your
23:53knees with your rosaries
23:58the Apostles Creed
24:02begin I believe in
24:05God the Father Almighty creator of
24:09Heaven and Earth look straight
24:12ahead creator of Heaven and Earth
24:16creator of Heaven and Earth look forward
24:19I say forward I believe in Jesus Christ
24:23his only son our Lord I believe in Jesus
24:27Christ
24:34one of the punishments for speaking our
24:36language and losing all our tokens was
24:38to hold your
24:41tongue sometimes you had to hold your
24:43tongue for about half an hour and if you
24:46let it go then it was another half an
24:49hour added onto it so you're holding on
24:51to your tongue for an hour and then you
24:54know your spit would be running down
24:57your your
25:03face I use my imagination a
25:08lot to feel
25:13safe cuz it was tucked away
25:16[Music]
25:19somewhere that an adult could not
25:23go where I knew they could not see or
25:27they could not feel
25:30or they could not hear what was going on
25:32in
25:38there I retreated there alone
25:41[Music]
25:57[Music]
26:12you get back here
26:20[Music]
26:29hey they couldn't see me from back
26:32there that's the road to Fort Capel
26:51[Music]
27:27h
27:39[Music]
27:48[Music]
27:52come with me
28:01[Music]
28:12I remember telling my aunt one time
28:16about that and she I know the she told
28:19me not to tell lies priests don't do
28:22that they wouldn't do that she said
28:29nobody
28:35believed man that the Wicked Game yeah
28:37remember that crazy one time
28:40yeah hey Glenn there's your
28:44cousin
28:51hey where are you going
28:53[Applause]
28:54home for good just a visit see my
29:01[Music]
29:03folks I was raised by my
29:06grandfather I always kind of like envied
29:09other kids who had
29:11Parents cuz I never got to experience
29:24that I wonder how come they never took
29:26me home
29:29[Music]
29:42[Music]
29:46I asked if I could go
29:48home so they said okay we'll take you
29:53home how long you going for a whole week
29:57going to sleep in my my own bed can eat
29:59my own food bring some back for us I
30:04will you ready Glenn
30:17[Music]
30:29are you excited
30:34uh-huh I just started up the truck we'll
30:37uh go inside while it warms
30:42[Music]
30:45up by the school there us to be a
30:48building a house they called the
30:50priest's house or the priest St
30:54[Music]
31:09this is an old
31:11house there a lot of
31:20Secrets do you like
31:22Secrets I knew it
31:43now
31:45Glenn see what I mean what do you suppos
31:48is down
31:50there would you like to find
31:54out I want to go no of course of course
31:58but
32:01look pulled the rug open and there was a
32:03trap
32:08door take a
32:11[Music]
32:13look so I crawled down cuz I wanted to
32:17go home but I wanted to also like see
32:21what he wanted to show me
32:28come
32:28on come on
32:43[Music]
33:00there's two
33:04doors and he opened up the one door and
33:07he told me look go on
33:10look go
33:14look
33:16hey
33:18hey wait let me out let me out let me
33:23out please what did I do
33:33banging on the door yelling them let me
33:36out I wanted to go
33:38[Music]
33:39home but nobody
33:47answered let me
33:50[Music]
33:52out what did I do let me out
34:00[Music]
34:23[Music]
34:25did you
34:26ever
34:28sometimes
34:30feel like silence it's it really is
34:40deafening crawl in a corner crouched up
34:43in field position I guess you might say
34:47and just sit there endless just your
34:50dead
34:52silence I'd
34:54cry wondering how come they did that to
35:06me there was a huge map on the wall and
35:10this map had different
35:14paths at the bottom there was hell in
35:18the middle there was
35:20purgatory and high above the map Heaven
35:24that's where we want to get to you see
35:28cuz we started down
35:32here that's where our ancestors all went
35:35because they were
35:37Savages but not us we're not dirty like
35:42them we're not going to burn in
35:50hell I didn't want to go to
35:54heaven I wanted to stay in hell because
35:56I knew
35:58my people would be
35:59there come
36:01on come
36:04on I was quite chubby when I went to
36:08school I lost a lot of
36:10weight I didn't want to
36:13eat I was starving myself
36:16because I couldn't get used to the food
36:19I couldn't tolerate the
36:21food I wasn't used to the porridge that
36:24was like glue powdered milk that was
36:27made into
36:28milk my body was used to food that was
36:31totally
36:32natural like moose meat and
36:39berries w x y and
36:44z now I know my ab c's next time won't
36:52you sing with me very good now
36:58stay in your
37:02seats fetch the principal
37:07[Music]
37:11run they sent me to the
37:14infirmary and I remember being
37:18alone and there the nurse force fed
37:22me trying to get some energy and
37:25strength in me
37:31this is the food you have you will learn
37:33to eat it or you'll die makes no
37:35difference to me what you
37:39choose she told me you have to eat H I
37:43couldn't
37:46[Music]
38:00I remember one night in particular being
38:03very
38:04curious as to I I heard a lot of crying
38:08down the
38:11hallway the nurse was not there all the
38:14time
38:29[Music]
38:35[Music]
38:49[Music]
38:55I remember this great big huge black
38:59thing and all the boys were sitting up
39:02in bed
39:05crying and the
39:08light from the exit sign went bouncing
39:11off the face of this
39:18priest
39:21and wondering why the boy was
39:25naked bent over
39:28close the
39:30door
39:32[Music]
39:40go I was really
39:42scared and I knew something really bad
39:45happened but I didn't know what it was
39:48[Music]
39:57oh
40:35[Music]
40:46[Music]
40:51can I go now
40:57don't leave me here
41:00please why am I here
41:03why what did I
41:06do take me
41:09home
41:11please please
41:13[Music]
41:31[Music]
41:47there was a girl in
41:52there that seemed like two persons they
41:55go in that girl's room where that girl
41:59[Music]
42:17was I don't know how much time passed
42:21but after a while they'd be gone I hear
42:23them door closing and I hear crying
42:26crying then I heard
42:28the
42:33tap and nice I listened I tap back
42:40it made me feel good in the sense that
42:43there was I wasn't the only one down
42:44there all by myself
42:50[Music]
43:26how did we sleep last last night porge
43:29for you and believe you me you're going
43:31to eat
43:41ite
43:46M now you know you're not to speak that
43:49language
43:57pleas go stop
43:59it even if you were allowed to speak
44:02your nonsense I wouldn't be able to
44:05understand a word of it
44:08now are you going to eat or not oh
44:13man I see I'm
44:19Bo I'm
44:22man oh
44:25cry can't understand a word of
44:28it cry eat your breakfast oh boys
44:34cry eat or starve damn you
44:47eat and then I feared
44:50her so I kept it inside
44:57I went through the whole day in the
45:04infirmary and then night came
45:16[Music]
45:28[Music]
45:30I could hear the steps coming towards
45:32the girl's infirmary and I was the only
45:33one in there
45:37[Music]
46:01and then I couldn't
46:02breathe I was flipped over and I
46:06felt a hand clamp my
46:10mouth and I could smell
46:13[Music]
46:15tobacco I remember
46:18[Music]
46:20gagging I remember a lot of pain
46:26[Music]
46:35so that's the reason why I escaped to
46:39[Music]
46:41the to that
46:45place where I'd be
46:48[Music]
46:54safe Lina
46:56[Music]
47:10when I was in that special
47:14place that's where I found peace
47:20[Music]
47:28I think about it
47:33now and I think to myself
47:36that I'm not the only one that
47:38experienced
47:39this the
47:43rape a lot of a lot of children in that
47:48school were raped sexually
47:51abused by this priest
47:58that priest later died before I left
48:01residential
48:03school and I felt
48:08peace I remember that when they told us
48:11that he was
48:13gone it was just like there was a load
48:16that was
48:18[Music]
48:20lifted and I didn't have to worry
48:22anymore
48:25about the rest of the
48:27boys or girls being raped in the
48:30infirmary which was supposed to be a
48:32place where we went to
48:39heal when I heard that he had died I
48:42just wanted to
48:45dance and
48:47laugh and I knew I
48:50couldn't but I did in that special place
48:59[Music]
49:19I don't know how much time
49:22passed it seemed like I wasn't there
49:24forever
49:27[Music]
49:34you then none
49:38came do you
49:41see me see
49:43[Music]
49:45you she's tell me not to
49:48cry trying to comfort me
49:52[Music]
50:06foreign
50:08speech
50:16for is
50:33no she was going to tell on
50:36them is not right shees says what you're
50:40doing to that boy
51:04[Music]
51:18that V
51:22[Music]
51:33the
51:36girl girl the other room help
51:47her she was gone they come and got her
51:51they took her
52:03I don't know what kind of God they have
52:05that loves to hurt another human
52:10being their understanding of God is a
52:12kind person you know that's
52:15forgiving and and all the things they
52:17did to us uh what what kind of God do
52:20they
52:25have all the other physical abuse was
52:28nothing compared to being locked up in
52:31that
52:34[Music]
52:41[Music]
52:45place I guess I was in there a week and
52:47a
52:48[Music]
52:54half and new only
52:57reason I was putting there because I was
53:09lonesome she washed me
53:13up first time ever washed and in the
53:17tub cuz we used to have showers in the
53:22school thank you
53:27[Music]
53:36it's all right
53:40Glen they won't hurt you
53:43again you'll see it's going to be all
53:47right
53:50now she said she was going to watch over
53:53me that they won't they won't do
53:55anything to me
54:04okay I'll be
54:23back and then she was gone
54:29at Christmas time they sent that nun
54:31away cuz he tried to speak up for me
55:13he'll never hurt you
55:19again he's going to another school
55:28some things you just learn to accept you
55:32have like no control
55:35over after that I never asked to go
55:38home cuz all the sort of asked to go
55:41home they put me in that place
55:54again say someday
55:57[Music]
56:03people will listen someday they'll
56:07[Music]
56:19[Music]
56:21believe hey
56:23Glenn when she turns away we'll go
56:27what if we get
56:28caught they bring us back they'll give
56:31us a lick they'll give us a lick
56:33whatever we do
56:35[Music]
56:40[Music]
56:57[Music]
57:01how long do you figure to the reserve
57:03couple days we we should have got more
57:07than a couple of potatoes to
57:09eat we could stop at our aunt's place in
57:11Capel yeah she's a nice lady it's only
57:1430 Mi we can make that easy
57:19[Music]
57:26come on now hurry
57:30up no
57:42talking open your books to page
57:5027 where are the others
57:56where are
58:13[Music]
58:22they we felt like we're on top of the
58:24world
58:26that we finally we can I guess have that
58:30uh a little bit of
58:33[Music]
58:38[Applause]
58:41Freedom we stayed away from the
58:45roads that way we could see anybody
58:47coming
58:56we knew where we were going
58:59and we just kept walking
59:03[Music]
59:45you think you haven't eaten for a
59:47week the food is terrible at school
59:50there's worms into the bread sometimes
59:52nonsense they wouldn't give you rotten
59:54food
59:57we'll never have to eat it
1:00:01again we'll take some with us okay antie
1:00:04of
1:00:08[Music]
1:00:12course we'll be back on the reserve
1:00:14tomorrow if we don't
1:00:23stop yes I called
1:00:28you boys are getting a good
1:00:30education I won't let you throw your
1:00:32lives
1:00:40away no let we
1:00:53go you inspired these boys to run away
1:00:55too
1:01:05I hope you're proud of
1:01:08yourself you're first rest of you
1:01:11against the
1:01:13wall I guess amongst ourselves we said
1:01:17oh we're going to not going to let them
1:01:20do that to us we'll fight back said as
1:01:23soon as he tries to give one we'll all
1:01:24jump
1:01:29[Music]
1:01:39he was like a big bear and a bunch of
1:01:41wolves attacking him and the bear
1:01:42doesn't know which way to turn that's I
1:01:45can still picture
1:01:48that let
1:01:52go jump on him jump on him him
1:01:58you filthy
1:01:59seres the go get
1:02:05him get on the you'll all be sorry the
1:02:08bunch of you you better
1:02:13run we showed that son of a [ __ ] who
1:02:22boss he locked us in go through the
1:02:25window
1:02:27we tried to see how we could get out but
1:02:29we're three stories up there and there
1:02:31was no way out even with the
1:02:34window they're coming back we got to get
1:02:41[Music]
1:02:43out we knew it was
1:02:46coming and we just hope we'd be able to
1:02:49get through
1:02:51[Music]
1:02:54it the fear
1:02:56whether you'd be able to endure it that
1:03:00was the biggest thing that went through
1:03:03[Music]
1:03:11[Music]
1:03:19us and they really had their away with
1:03:22us
1:03:28we all ended up in the
1:03:32infirmary over a
1:03:33[Music]
1:03:37week we paid the price but cuz we really
1:03:40got a a serious beating for it but we
1:03:44always cherished that thought that we we
1:03:46fought
1:03:47[Music]
1:03:54back what is
1:03:57God God is a spirit infinitely
1:04:03perfect had God a
1:04:06beginning God had no beginning he always
1:04:10was and he always will
1:04:15be where is
1:04:17God God is everywhere
1:04:21[Music]
1:04:30we're in a hopeless
1:04:35situation I had nowhere to turn you just
1:04:38had to live through it
1:05:00here she is here are her things come
1:05:03with
1:05:05me you there
1:05:0899 take her inside
1:05:35[Music]
1:05:50the little ones would
1:05:51cry they would cry at night because they
1:05:54were hungry
1:06:12I'm here now I'm here
1:06:18[Music]
1:06:27[Music]
1:06:33we are given different chores to do in
1:06:35order to change our behavior and of
1:06:38course conform to what they wanted what
1:06:40was required of me was to bring food to
1:06:44the uh priests and the nuns and the food
1:06:47that I took There
1:06:50Was You Know fresh apples and oranges
1:06:53vegetables from the garden
1:06:57all kinds of desserts that you could
1:06:59imagine cakes
1:07:01cookies and when I compared it to what
1:07:04we ate there was no
1:07:07comparison everything that was left over
1:07:10from days and weeks were all cooked
1:07:13together and that's what we were
1:07:15presented with
1:07:31[Music]
1:07:37I spent a lot of my duties in the
1:07:40kitchen I want you to clean these dishes
1:07:45okay sometimes I was in a kitchen
1:07:47because I was being punished for
1:07:49something I
1:07:54did for
1:08:04[Music]
1:08:22[Music]
1:08:29[Music]
1:08:39[Music]
1:08:51we Spug in the
1:08:53squees see
1:09:08what do you think you're doing where did
1:09:10you get these
1:09:13apples I stole
1:09:16them
1:09:18why for the
1:09:20children every night they cry themselves
1:09:22to sleep from
1:09:24Hunger you see know they give us to eat
1:09:26it makes us
1:09:29sick report me I don't
1:09:37care come with
1:09:40me all of you out of your beds come come
1:09:44with me and I thought oh
1:09:47[Music]
1:09:49no no
1:09:53talking quickly
1:09:56quickly she went and got a box of bread
1:09:59huge jar of peanut butter she to the
1:10:01dining room and she went into the
1:10:02kitchen and made a great big huge pot of
1:10:05cocoa
1:10:06[Music]
1:10:26we told her we were
1:10:27[Music]
1:10:34hungry so she fed us
1:10:38[Music]
1:11:14I remember the last day of
1:11:18school I felt a
1:11:20freeness was like I had a huge burden
1:11:23that was being taken away from
1:11:32[Music]
1:11:36I remember talking to one of my
1:11:42grandfathers all he told me was you're
1:11:44not going to be there
1:11:45forever life doesn't have to be that way
1:11:48he says you can when you get out you can
1:11:51well good luck you son live the life the
1:11:54way you feel TI has to
1:11:58be and I always prayed for that age when
1:12:02I get out of
1:12:10[Music]
1:12:20there I had so much
1:12:23rage it took a long long time to make
1:12:26peace with the
1:12:35church when I got out of residential
1:12:38school I made a promise to myself I
1:12:42was I was going to try to live the way I
1:12:45felt life should be lived but it was
1:12:50hard once you got out of there too
1:12:54[Music]
1:13:00[Music]
1:13:02[Applause]
1:13:08[Music]
1:13:10you're all a sudden in a different world
1:13:12where there's so much
1:13:15Freedom just like a lot of dudes that
1:13:17are in jail long
1:13:20time all that freedom they can't handle
1:13:22it same as
1:13:25great majority of us we we couldn't
1:13:27handle that that
1:13:32[Music]
1:13:47freedom my
1:13:50friends well a lot of them uh died
1:13:54alcohol L
1:13:56de
1:13:58suicide when they got out of
1:14:01school
1:14:04and
1:14:12ah I come so close to doing
1:14:19that I was an
1:14:22orphan and it's hard way to live
1:14:27I used to always uh see others that had
1:14:30parents and I used to kind of Envy them
1:14:32that they're so lucky they're so lucky
1:14:34to have parents they don't know what
1:14:35it's like to go to grow up without
1:14:39parents and I used to always say that
1:14:43you know I I wish my
1:14:46uh children will never be
1:14:50orphans but like you see
1:14:53when a lot of us only we left school we
1:14:56uh turned to
1:14:58alcohol and there was a point in my life
1:15:01it became a real bad problem for
1:15:06me I was going to kill myself and I went
1:15:10up in the hills and I had my rifle and
1:15:12my two oldest kids followed me
1:15:16[Music]
1:15:25I was just going to pull the trigger
1:15:27just like this Bo spoke to me and told
1:15:30me what are you doing you doing what you
1:15:33said you'd never do and I realized that
1:15:37if I killed myself my children would be
1:15:42orphans I said I'd never think of doing
1:15:45that
1:15:47again cuz I love my children so much
1:15:50that I didn't want them to go through
1:15:51what I went through being an orphan
1:15:54[Music]
1:16:06[Music]
1:16:32Mr Speaker I stand before you today to
1:16:34offer an apology to former students of
1:16:37Indian residential schools the treatment
1:16:40of children in Indian residential
1:16:42schools is a sad chapter in our history
1:16:46two primary objectives of the
1:16:49residential school system were to remove
1:16:52and isolate children from the influence
1:16:55of their home families traditions and
1:16:58cultures and to assimilate them into the
1:17:02dominant culture these objectives were
1:17:05based on the assumption that Aboriginal
1:17:07cultures and spiritual beliefs were
1:17:10inferior and unequal indeed some sought
1:17:14as was infamously said to Kill The
1:17:16Indian in the
1:17:19[Music]
1:17:22child when I hear people
1:17:26[Music]
1:17:29that firmly believe that nothing
1:17:30happened in the
1:17:33schools well I can tell my
1:17:36story and I can tell them this is what
1:17:42happened the anger is
1:17:46gone they just I guess sadness and
1:17:52that of what of what
1:17:55happened and hopefully it never happens
1:18:00again we now recognize that it was wrong
1:18:03to separate children from Rich and
1:18:06vibrant cultures and traditions that it
1:18:09created a void in many lives and
1:18:11communities and we apologize for having
1:18:14done this we now recognize that in
1:18:17separating children from their
1:18:20families we undermine the ability of
1:18:23many to adequately parent their own own
1:18:25children and sowed the seeds for
1:18:28generations to
1:18:29follow the government of Canada
1:18:31sincerely apologizes and ask the
1:18:33Forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of
1:18:36this country for failing them so
1:18:41[Music]
1:18:51profoundly I believe that they were
1:18:53trying to annihilate us
1:18:55and they
1:18:56couldn't because what they did to us and
1:19:01everything that we've had to live
1:19:05through only made us
1:19:07stronger made us more
1:19:13determined there's another
1:19:17C here you want another one okay here
1:19:20you
1:19:22go the other way Bab
1:19:25another
1:19:28[Music]
1:19:34[Music]
1:19:39car we're okay
1:19:45[Music]
1:19:56what happened there it didn't have to
1:19:59happen but also don't keep it a secret
1:20:03don't hide
1:20:04it for the people to know that things
1:20:06like that
1:20:08happened they didn't have to
1:20:10[Music]
1:20:22happen and at least I I got to talk
1:20:25about it took a long time
1:20:28but finally able to speak
1:20:34[Music]
1:21:06[Music]
1:21:19[Applause]
1:21:24[Music]
1:21:58[Applause]
1:22:11[Music]
1:22:36[Applause]
1:22:42[Applause]
1:22:45[Music]

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