Haida man remembers abuse at Indian day school

Aboriginal parents were often reluctant to contact educational authorities for fear of being arrested

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      When the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada visits Vancouver from September 18 to 21, it will stimulate a great deal of discussion about Indian residential schools.

      That’s because the TRC’s mandate includes promoting public education about this issue and providing “a holistic, culturally appropriate and safe setting for former students, their families and communities as they come forward” to share stories.

      However, the commission is not required to delve into the experiences of students who attended Indian day schools, which were located near First Nations reserves. That’s because the day schools were not included in the settlement agreement reached between the Assembly of First Nations, the federal government, and various churches to bring an end to numerous lawsuits arising from abuse in residential schools.

      This concerns Andy Wilson, a member of the Haida Nation who attended an Indian day school on Haida Gwaii. In an interview at the Georgia Straight office, he described how he and fellow First Nations students were beaten and strapped for speaking their language and expressing their culture at the school, which was operated by the United Church of Canada.

      “We weren’t allowed to speak Haida, not even mention a word in Haida,” Wilson said. “We weren’t allowed to draw. We weren’t allowed to sing and dance. We weren’t allowed to talk about anything about Haida culture.”

      And if they disobeyed, Wilson said that they were “whipped across the face” and sometimes “whipped across the back”.

      “This was happening throughout my kindergarten, Grade 1, 2, and 3,” he recalled. “When I went home to tell my parents what had happened to me, they just told me I had to listen to what the teachers were doing, were telling us, [even when they] were telling us not to speak Haida.”

       Wilson, who now lives on the Musqueam reserve, said that he didn’t understand why his parents didn’t defend him. Only after he grew up did he realize that if his parents had spoken out, they could have been arrested by the RCMP. He said all the other aboriginal students in his school had a similar experience.

      “I lost that connection with my parents, my grandparents, my great-grandparents,” he stated. “I lost my whole culture for a while. I think it’s coming back slowly, and I’ve worked really hard at that.”

      He acknowledged overcoming struggles with alcohol and drug addiction. “It was a long time that I just felt like I didn’t belong anywhere.”

      Wilson spent two decades looking after the Bill Reid canoe on Haida Gwaii. In this position, he reconnected with his culture and appeared in several documentaries. He moved to Vancouver when his wife enrolled in a UBC master’s program.

      He said that there are programs for residential-school survivors, but very little for those who went through Indian day schools. “We still haven’t gotten to the point where we’re openly talking about it,” he suggested. “Sometimes, I feel anger and I feel hurt, and my kids want to know why. I try to tell them about what it was like for me to grow up in Indian day school.”

      The Manitoba-based Joan Jack Law Office has launched a class-action lawsuit on behalf of aboriginal day-school students. Earlier this month, the Ottawa Citizen reported that the firm has received more than 10,000 forms from people in Western Canada who want to be part of the lawsuit.

      Sometimes, nonaboriginal callers to radio talk shows liken the abuse meted out to aboriginal students to the strappings they received before corporal punishment was outlawed in B.C.

      Wilson, however, took exception to that analogy.

      “They were getting strapped for breaking a rule in school,” he said. “We were getting strapped for being Haida. We were getting whipped for talking our language, trying to maintain our culture.…We weren’t getting punished. We were getting beaten and tortured.”

       

      Comments

      5 Comments

      Rory Gylander

      Jan 24, 2013 at 10:12am

      Good on you for speaking up Andy, all the best.

      Bud66

      Jan 24, 2013 at 11:57am

      I got the shit kicked out of me a few times for speaking Dutch as a 6 year old in 1951 Thunder Bay.
      Sad really--it was a different era--I love this Country
      Truth and reconciliation; Thank you Rev. Tutu
      A new era can begin.

      G.J.W.

      Jan 25, 2013 at 3:48pm

      I am more sorry than, I can find the words to even say.

      Our family have F.N. friends and have had for years. No-one insults the F.N. in any of our houses. They come to our family reunions. They are welcome to come everywhere we go, and every party we have.

      I support the F.N. in which ever way I can. I sign petitions, attend rallies. I support the F.N. on their fight to save their food sources from the Enbridge pipeline. I recognize Chief Spence is speaking for all of us. I have been fighting for her too.

      F.N. parents, sent their sons to war, right alongside my own brothers. I am livid at Harper, for his total disrespect towards the F.N. people. They deserve his help, not his hate. F.N. deserve decent homes. Their kids deserve the same breaks, our kids have. People have to step up the plate and support the F.N. people.

      bud66

      Jan 27, 2013 at 3:35pm

      G.J.W.
      The collective caucasian guilt is profound
      May your God bless the efforts being made to right the ship
      Please; don't use the word "Hate" lightly
      [middle east/N.Ireland]
      My God---I'm actually defending Harper

      pam wilson/skidegate band

      Aug 1, 2014 at 9:17am

      i would like to commend andy for speaking out about the indian day school - i don't like the term 'indian' because this is what non-natives labeled us i prefer 'aboriginal'. i too went to the day school and grew up with the strapping and being whipped with a long ruler. i can't remember not one happy day that i spent in this school except the last day of school. i remember putting my hand up because i desparately had to go to the outhouse and being ignored (the teachers did that a lot) and this was in kindergarten. i ended up having diarrhea and having to go in my pants and running to the outhouse when she finally let me go. i don't remember what happened after that because i have blocked out a lot of stuff. even in high school we were still getting strapped by a big burly principal who seemed to enjoy strapping us. i know of one student(aboriginal) that got strapped so hard her hands bled. i ended up quitting school in grade 8. me and my cousin fooled our mothers into signing a paper stating that it was ok to leave school. now that was a happy day. so we should be compensated also for the torture we had to go through growing up having to go to the day school. there should be no question about it plain and simple!!!! we never got that at home what we got in school.