Coast Mountain News Thursday, April 11, 2013
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Vol. 29 | No. 08 Thursday, April 11, 2013
Serving the Bella Coola Valley and the Chilcotin
Serving the Bella Coola Valley and the Chilcotin
CoastMountainNews.com
Grand opening of Tweedsmuir Ski Cabin
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Michael Wigle photo
Residential School survivor Fred King, with elder Karen Anderson, is wrapped in the blanket while fellow survivors look on.
Nuxalk community holds celebration to honour Residential School Survivors BY CAITLIN THOMPSON The community gathered in Bella Coola on April 5 to recognize survivors of residential school. It was a grey morning as chiefs, elders, and community members assembled in front of the totem pole downtown that had been carved four years ago in the survivors’ honour. The event was called a ‘celebration’ for a reason. While it was intended to acknowledge
the suffering residential schools had inflicted on the survivors and their communities, its greater purpose was to begin the healing journey. Survivors were finally given the opportunity to collectively bring closure to this dark chapter in their lives, and, hopefully, begin to let go. It is estimated that there are just below 100 Nuxalk residential school survivors living today, but not all have been accounted for as many still
refuse to share their stories. Although their experiences took place decades ago, it is still too painful for many survivors to face, and not all survivors were able to attend the ceremony. Many people were visibly shaken during the gathering. Residential schools were a key part of the Canadian government’s policy called “aggressive assimilation”. The government felt children were easier to mould than adults, and the con-
cept of a boarding school was the best way to prepare them for life in mainstream society. The schools were federally run under the Department of Indian Affairs. Attendance was mandatory, and agents were employed by the government to ensure all native children attended. Many children suffered greatly due to emotional, physical and sexual abuse as well as the pain of being separated from their family and the
subsequent loss of their language and culture. Returning to their communities after years in residential schools, many survivors discovered they couldn’t even relate to their own family members anymore. In 1931, at the peak of the residential school system, there were about 80 schools operating in Canada. In all, about 150,000 aboriginal, Inuit and Métis chilSEE SCHOOL ON PAGE 3