Residential school survivor tells of abuse at Indian Brook hearing
CBC News | Posted: October 12, 2011 12:56 PM | Last Updated: October 12, 2011
Some survivors of the Shubenacadie Residential School told their stories in public Wednesday at Indian Brook.
About 50 people gathered at the Indian Brook Community Hall to take part in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a national restitution process for Canada's aboriginal peoples.
Between 1923 and 1967, many native children were taken from their families and sent to the Shubenacadie School, where some were subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Alan Knockwood, 58, said he was sent to the school at age nine, and spent three years there.
During that time, he said, he was beaten for speaking his language.
"I was caught by a brother, or one of the workers, and I was strapped so severely that when we went to supper my cousin Ivan had to feed me because my hands were so swollen from the straps," Knockwood said.
He spoke for about 20 minutes, but he said some of his memories of abuse were too personal and painful to share.
Outside the hall, a couple of friends gave him hugs and thanked him for speaking.
"I think the only difference that it made was just that it finally fell out of my lips and having someone hear it," Knockwood said.
The Truth and Reconciliation process continues Friday in Eskasoni, and for four days in Halifax at the end of October.
The purpose of the commission is not to establish guilt or innocence, but to help anyone who has been affected by the legacy of the residential schools to heal.
Annette Googoo's mother, Nancy, attended the school but never talked about it with her children. "It was like when it was our time to go to school, they spoke only English around us," Googoo told CBC News.
"They didn't want us to be harmed, to be hurt. I guess one of the things is we lost our language with the residential school."
The commission has been travelling around the country hearing about the legacy of the schools.
"It's more about the community, to let people know, because these kind of stories we don't tell them to our kids, to our children," said Richard Kistbish, a residential school survivor who works with the commission.
"It's an occasion for them to tell their stories in front of the public."
The commission will create a historical account of the residential schools and encourage reconciliation between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians. It was established in June 2008, and aims to complete its work by 2013.