This book is a fairly quick, but very important read. Under 200 pages, I was able to finish it in one day, but many moments described in these pages will stay with me for a very long time. I've been on a search for Residential School Survival stories since my university days, in the early 2010s. Since then I have read and heard the perspective of a few survivors and also worked the the Witness Blanket gallery at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) when the traveling exhibit was first there in 2016. "The Witness Blanket stands as a national monument to recognize the atrocities of the Indian residential school era, honour the children, and symbolize ongoing reconciliation" (Source: https://humanrights.ca/story/picking-up-the-pieces-the-making-of-the-witness-blanket) .
Each residential school survivor story is unique because while there may be commonalities between the stories, each person experienced things in their own individual way. One question that I was often asked when I worked at the CMHR was "why do some people say they had a good experience at residential schools?" I phrased that in the way I would have preferred visitors asked it, in fact it wasn't always even a question, but really it was more like this statement:"Well some people liked their time there so it couldn't have been that bad". I struggled in answering that question, but often settled on something along the lines of "each person's experience was different, there were many different schools running during different times, for example the last one closed in the 90s, the experiences may have been different during different time periods". I'll be honest in that I wasn't super satisfied in this answer but this was also the fault of the museum for not giving me and my coworkers enough support (more on that another day).
Someone who did explain this well however, is Theodore Fontaine. When describing the ways that his three older siblings responded to their own traumas at residential schools he showed that within the same family and within siblings just a few years apart attending the same school at the same time, could experience things differently. For a while Theodore had no idea that his sister experienced similar traumas to what he had experienced because of the way she hid that trauma. It wasn't until she went to court to tell her story and start her healing journey that he began to realize that she had handled trauma in a different way.
Theodore also explained Stockholm Syndrome and how it relates to residential school survivors. As a teacher, especially an early years teacher, I often take on a quasi-parental role with my students. I teach life lessons, not just curriculum. I'm there to hug them when they are hurt at school (less so during covid...). I discipline as needed, and praise/encourage wherever fitting. I can't say what teachers were like in residential schools, but even the meanest teachers or clergy members were in a parental role, and positively or negatively, created relationships with the victims in their "care". Also, on a sliding scale of awful to slightly-less-awful, the adults in these schools when compared to one another may have at times seemed like a saviour or kind soul in the middle of darkness.
Wherever a survivor may be in their journey towards healing may also impact the descriptions they give of their experiences at Residential schools. Trauma can cause suppression of memories, PTSD and fear of revisiting those scary memories. Also, maybe they don't want to discuss the private abuses they have experienced at the hand of their captors for fear of embarrassment or a misunderstanding/perception that it was only happening to them or that they were in the wrong. Or you know, maybe wanting some privacy in their healing journey?!
Regardless of the details that a survivor shares, I believe it is our job (I say this as a non-Indigneous Canadian) to listen without judgement and be open to hearing and accepting responsibility for the mistakes of our country in the past and find ways to support each survivor in their healing journey. I have nothing negative to say about this book, it was written wonderfully, it was clear and concise yet touched on many different aspects of his personal story. Aside from hearing about his experiences and the experiences of others' at residential schools, I also learned about his family and their life on reserve. There was factual information about the Indian Act and Duncan Scott, as well as the hearings, the federal apology, and background information about the residential school system, including one of the residential schools in Winnipeg. I felt the book was the perfect length, there was no point where I wanted to put it down or skip a section, or wish there was more.
I would definitely recommend this book for anyone trying to gain perspective and information about our troubling past. While difficult (emotionally) to take at times, the author was able to craft a story that makes readers aware and uncomfortable, but in a way that is appropriate and accessible for any adolescent or adult to read. I often see reviews that say "this should be mandatory reading for..." and laugh a bit because making something mandatory does not mean that it will be understood or received, but I think that recommending it to those around us who are at different places in their journey of understanding and working towards reconciliation may be a place to start.
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